Breeched
by Scyphi
Summary: Hacker has done the unthinkable, and it threatenes everything. But as the Cybersquad rush to once again stop Hacker before it's too late, they wonder one thing. How? Please R&R!
1. Prologue

Summary: Hacker has done the unthinkable, and it threatenes everything. But as the Cybersquad rush to once again stop Hacker before it's too late, they wonder one thing. How?

Rating: T (much darker than past fanfics, and potentially more violent)

Author's Note: Here is the next fanfic in my Cyberchase saga. This is a big one, all the other fanfics have been pretty much been building up to this point. This is also a sequel to my first Cybercahse fanfic "The Time Traveler." First chapter is a prologue, used to kind of recap past events, and the next chapter goes on with the story itself. I think you'll all like this one, so enjoy. ;)

CYBERCHASE

BREECHED

1.

Prologue

"_Well, I guess my job here is done." Future Matt announced once the festivities at Control Central had ended._

"_So, where are you going to go now?" Inez asked, curious. "Back to the future?" she paused for a moment. "I can't believe I just said that." she said dismayed._

"_No, I don't think I can go back to the future now." the time traveler said._

"_Why not?" Digit asked. "Why can't you just do the opposite of what you did to get here in the first place? Just add a heat-tant, thing."_

"_We can't." Marbles interrupted. "The only chemical that would work would be Lynitrogen, and adding it to a portal would be even more dangerous than adding Kryoxide to a portal."_

"_So I guess I'm stranded here." Future Matt ended. "So I'll have to find some place to stay right here in Cyberspace."_

"_You could stay here in Control Central." Jackie suggested._

"_Can't, that would put too much at risk." the time traveler stated. "Hacker never did figure out just who I am and how I got here, and by staying here, we risk him figuring that out."_

"_So if you can't stay here, where will you go?" Matt asked._

"_Well, I suppose I could go to cybersite Mount Olympus to live." Future Matt guessed. "Always did want to live in ancient Greece. Can you give me a lift there, Motherboard?"_

_Motherboard nodded, and a moment later, a swirling pink portal formed._

"_So I guess it's goodbye now." Future Matt said, looking into the portal. He turned to Jackie. "Bye Jax."_

"_Goodbye, then." Jackie said. "Thanks for you're help."_

"_Sure thing." Future Matt said, then turned to Digit._

"_Do you have to go?" Digit asked. "I was just getting used to you being here."_

"_Sorry Didge, can't be here forever." the time traveler said, then patted Digit on the head. "Bye, you tin turkey."_

_Future Matt turned to Inez._

"_Hey, uh, thanks for, well, saving my life." Inez said, nervously_

"_I'm glad I could make a difference." Future Matt answered. "Of course, Matt helped, so partial credit goes to him."_

"_Which is you." Inez pointed out good-humorly._

"_Don't confuse me." Future Matt requested. He turned to his double. "Be seeing you, friend." He said, holding out his hand for Matt to shake._

"_Are you sure you don't want to stay?" Matt asked, taking the hand to shake. "We could work something out, and you could stay and be a part of the Cybersquad."_

"_I think one Matt's enough for this group." Future Matt pointed out. "Besides, the only other course of action for me is the return to the Real World, and I don't think our mom would be too thrilled when she suddenly discovered that she had twins."_

_Grinning, Future Matt walked up to the portal. He stopped just before crossing the threshold, turning back around to the group behind him._

"_Farewell everyone." he said. "But remember, Cyberspace is only so big. We'll all meet up with one another again, I'm sure."_

_And with that last phrase, he walked through the portal and was gone from sight..._

* * *

Inez awoke with a start. Panting slightly, and sitting up, she reviewed the dream in her head, surprised there was nothing to it but past memories. She had odd dreams before, and her adventures in Cyberspace usually aided in that regard. And sometimes it did replay past memories.

But usually there was something mixed it that made the dream contrast from the actual memory. In this case, it was nothing but pure, true-blue, memories. Specifically from the time that a Matt from the future traveled back in time so to save Cyberspace in the future from falling to Hacker's rule.

And they succeeded. Thanks to Future Matt's help, they were able to stop Hacker, find the lost cybersite, Cyantis, and retrieve the Encryptor chip, which eventually enabled Motherboard to be cured of the virus Hacker had given her. And today still, they were holding off Hacker's campaign of chaos, preventing the future the time traveler had escaped from becoming a reality.

But for how much longer was unknown. Hacker knew his campaign was coming to an end, and each evil plan that followed became more and more desperate. Now everyone was pretty much convinced that Hacker had broken under all the stress, and had lost it to a certain degree. How much was uncertain. But it didn't really matter anymore. All that mattered was making sure that Hacker didn't blow up himself, taking Cyberspace along with it.

Inez shuddered at the thought of Hacker's last evil plan a few days back. It was a plan to build a kind of superweapon with Cyantian power crystals that could turn whole cybersites evil. And Hacker had almost succeeded, leaving Inez herself and her cyborg and wizardess friend Shari to save the day. And they cut it very close, far too close for comfort.

Inez knew that sooner or later, something big was going to happen. Either Hacker was going to finally succeed one of these days, or she and the rest of the Cybersquad would finally beat Hacker, once and for all. But at what price?

Inez thought back to Future Matt again, and remembered that the time traveler had been through the worse case scenario, and had suffered through far worse things, though. He had even witnessed Inez's own death in his timeline, and it was because of him that Inez was even alive today.

It was scary to remember how close to death she had come back then, but she quickly told herself that she was, indeed, alive, and safely tucked away in bed at home in the Real World, where she belonged. Taking comfort in this thought, her mind again thought back to the time traveler, and she wondered why her mind was so bent on thinking about him, a person she had never seen since he had stepped through that portal to Mount Olympus.

Thinking of that, she decided she should plan to go visit him the next chance she got and, at the very least, thank him again for saving her life. But later. Glancing at her alarm clock, she saw it was still very late at night, and laid back down and was soon sound asleep again...


	2. Precursor to Chaos

Chapter 2. Hacker has a new toy, and Matt and Inez make a very important discovery regarding it...

2.

Precursor to Chaos

"Aren't we ready _yet, _you copper brained pop cans?" Hacker exclaimed as he stormed onto the bridge of the Grim Wreaker.

"Uh, almost boss." Buzz said, sitting at a control panel, slowly typing in commands by pressing one button at a time. "We just gotta check the power flow."

"Well, hurry it up!" Hacker fumed, sitting down at the Wreaker's flight controls. "I was ready to leave _yesterday_."

"What's the status on the device, Deedee?" Buzz asked, calling across the room.

"Uh, it says operations are at nom-in-al." Delete replied, reading the word out slowly. "Dunno what that means, though, Buzzy."

"Me either." Buzz admitted, scratching his head.

"You idiots, it means that the device is just within operating levels!" Hacker explained grumpily. "Now hurry and get it _over _that, some time TODAY!"

Buzz gulped. "Yes boss!" he said, and quickly typed in commands. "There!" he exclaimed. "Try it now, Deedee!"

"It still says nom-in-al, Buzzy." Delete said. "Maybe if you boosted the power..."

"I tried that already." Buzz said, typing in commands. "I think. That was this control, wasn't it?"

"Press it anyway." Delete suggested. "What harm could it do?"

Hacker rolled his eyes as he impatiently tapped the arm of his chair. He knew very well that a great deal of harm could come about just because someone pressed the wrong button. That was why he designed the device to be literally foolproof, and keep that from ever happening. Now if he could just get to _use _the device...

He had been waiting for this day for sometime now, and had gone to great lengths to assure it came about as planned. And now it was finally here, he was being slowly down by his incompetent lackeys, among other things.

"Hey, it worked!" Delete suddenly exclaimed. "The device's status is now on normal, and is ready to roll!"

"Finally!" Hacker exclaimed, and grabbed the Wreaker's controls and within seconds had the ship airborne and speeding away from the hanger bay on the Northern Frontier.

"Where are we going, Boss?" Buzz asked, who, like Delete, didn't know what the device they all had been working to install to the Wreaker's systems was capable of.

"Nowhere in particular." Hacker replied, pointing the Wreaker away from any cybersites in case this went horribly wrong for some reason. "Yet." then he pressed a control on his panel.

Without warning, there was a flash of light in front of the Wreaker. A swirl of color then flashed, spiraling around and around, forming something that grew bigger and bigger until it was bigger than the Wreaker itself. It then stabilized, forming a swirling surface of colors, pink being among the most predominate.

Buzz and Delete's eyes widened at the sight of the phenomenon.

"Is that..." Buzz began to ask.

"Yes it is." Hacker replied calmly, grinning with excitement.

He then gunned the Wreaker into the spinning mass of colors. The ship suddenly gained enormous speed, shaking and rattling under the turbulence. It rushed through a long tunnel of energy, similar to it's entrance. The trip was a wild one, but it was over just as quickly as it began. Without warning, the Wreaker was spat out another swirling mass of pink, and was sailing over a forest. Hacker released the controls, and the ship slowed to a stop. The device powered down, and the mass of energy they had just exited collapsed and vanished.

Buzz and Delete's eyes widened even more. "Where are we?" Delete asked, not recognizing the area.

Hacker didn't answer, simply surveying the land before him with glee. It reminded him somewhat of cybersite, The Forest. But this was different, very different. In fact, this place wasn't even Cyberspace.

It was much better.

* * *

It was raining in the city. But even though Matt had nothing to protect himself from the rain but a black, cotton, windbreaker that was already drenched in the pouring rain, he ran on, only focusing on one thought.

He had to get to Inez's house.

He had to tell her what he had found.

Because it affected everything.

Slipping slightly in the puddles, he pushed his way through the crowded sidewalks, ignoring the annoyed shouts of people traveling to their morning destinations. Right now, Matt didn't care about that. This affected them too, anyway. They didn't know it.

But unfortunately, they soon would.

And there was little he could do to prevent that.

Matt ran on at his breakneck speeds, knowing that the time was of the essence. The sooner he got the word out to his friends, starting with Inez, the sooner they could work to minimize the damage. But there was already a great deal of the damage done. And the newspaper he clutched tightly in one hand proved it.

Finally, he reached an apartment building, one he had visited frequently. Cutting across the sidewalk, he slipped in the door and raced up the stairs, not wanting to have to wait and ride the crowded elevator. He was already starting to become tired, but he ignored it, pushing himself further. This wasn't about himself anyway.

Finally, he reached the right floor, and raced down the fairly empty hallways, glancing at the apartment numbers as he went.

21...22...23...ah. Apartment 24.

Quickly, he rapped on the door, hoping he wasn't interrupting anything. But if he was, he was going to just go along with it. This was important.

The door opened, and Matt saw a tall woman with reddish-brown hair. She looked at Matt curiously.

"Hi...Inez's mom...lady..." Matt said hesitantly, realizing he didn't know the name of Inez's mother at the moment. Not that it really mattered at the moment.

The woman continued to stare at him.

"Um, I'm Matt, remember?" Matt said, knowing she had seen him before.

"I know." the lady replied, looking Matt up and down.

Matt realized he must be quite a sight, drenched with rainwater, splatter with mud and other grime, and out of breath. Still, it was urgent that he got on with this.

"Is Inez here?"

The lady nodded.

"Can I see her?"

The lady didn't reply right away.

"It's urgent." Matt pressed. He had to see Inez.

Finally the lady opened the door so Matt could enter. "All right, come on in." she said. "But we're just getting the day going, and breakfast is..."

But Matt didn't stop to listen to the rest. Pushing past Inez's mother regardless of how rude it was, he raced down the hallway, stopping at a specific door. He pounded on it with all his might.

"Who is it?" came Inez's voice.

"It's me, Matt!" Matt replied. "It's urgent that I talk with you!" he glanced back down the hallway to where Inez's mother stood watching him, clearly puzzled by Matt's behavior. "In private." he added.

"Matt?" Inez repeated, surprised. "What are you..."

"Please Inez?" Matt interrupted.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming." Inez said, and Matt could hear her approaching the door.

She opened it and stared at Matt's weather-worn condition. "Did you run here in the rain?" she asked.

"It's important." Matt explained, and lifted up the newspaper to show her.

Inez stared at it for a moment, taking it in her hands. Matt used this opportunity to push her back into her room and close the door behind them, so they could be away from unwanted eyes and ears.

Inez stared at the headline on the newspaper. "This can't be." she said, placing it down on her desk and smoothing it over.

The headline read, "_UFO Seen Near New York_". Below it was a black and white picture of the alleged UFO. The object was big, shaped somewhat like a spaceship, had a flare of light trailing from it's back end to indicate that it was in motion, and had a dark, curving hull. Inez recognized it instantly.

"That's..." she began to say, looking up at Matt, her eyes begging him to say it wasn't true.

Matt couldn't do that.

"...the Grim Wreaker." he finished, solemnly nodding his head. "Hacker's in the Real World."


	3. Plans of Action

The Cybersquad start to make plans to stop Hacker. Light referneces to "Parallelism" are made, and Lara, Peter, and Alex, from "Backup Support" are back for this fan fic. ;)

3.

Plans of Action

Inez shook her head. "How?" she asked.

Matt shrugged. "How am I supposed to know?" he asked. "I don't know anything about this kind of thing!"

"Well, I don't have any theories!" Inez exclaimed, frustrated. "Hacker has never even come _close _to reaching the Real World! Even during the time he gotten his hands on all of that portal dust! He had portals, but they wouldn't connect to the Real World! Only Motherboard can do that."

"Well, there is a possibility that's how Hacker did it." Matt admitted reluctantly. "I've tried contacting Cyberspace, specifically Motherboard or Dr. Marbles. But I can't reach them. The SKWAK seemed to be jammed. I thought maybe Hacker had something jamming them, but now that you've pointed out that Motherboard can only open portals..."

Inez gaped at Matt for a moment, then stepped across her room and pulled out her own SKWAK pad. She, too, tried to reach Cyberspace, but failed to contact her cyborg friends at Control Central. Again, she shook her head.

"Matt, I hope you're wrong." Inez said. "Just because we can't contact Control Central doesn't mean it's fallen to Hacker's control."

"I hope I'm wrong too." Matt admitted. "But the one thing we _can't _be wrong about is the fact that Hacker _is _in the Real World. How he got here doesn't really matter at the moment. We all know that there can only be one thing he wants here."

Inez nodded. "Us." she stated. "Probably to seek revenge against us."

"And it probably won't be pretty." Matt added.

"It's worse than that, too." Inez said, something coming to mind. "The Real World already knows Hacker's here, if he's made headline news. Albeit they don't know who he is or where he's from, but the longer Hacker stays here in the Real World, advertising his presence like this, the more we risk the secret of Cyberspace's existence getting compromised."

"That thought's crossed my mind as well." Matt admitted once more. "And we both know very well what could happen if that happens."

"It's not too late yet, though." Inez said. "The sooner we stop Hacker, the sooner we can stop this before it gets much worse."

"But how?" Matt asked. "We have no plan, no help, and no idea of how Hacker even _got _here! In fact, the only tools we've got to help are the SKWAKs, and they won't be much help when Hacker comes knocking on our doors with a huge laser cannon!"

"If we can stop Hacker in Cyberspace, we can do it in the Real World, too." Inez said.

"No, we can't!" Matt persisted. "At least, not in the same way! In Cyberspace, we had the advantage of portals, cyborg friends, Motherboard, and spaceships, even! We've got none of that here! Here, we're just kids! And what can kids do?"

"Don't loose faith yet, Matt!" Inez said. "Don't make me give you a prep talk over this, because I know you don't need it! We've been in tougher situations than this before! We can get through this, no matter what the costs!"

"But that's what worries me the most." Matt admitted. "Those costs could be very big."

"And I'll be the first to admit that!" Inez said. "I'll even admit how scared I am of the idea that Hacker's here, in the Real World! But if he's got us thinking he can beat us just by _arriving _here, then he's already got us beaten! No matter what, _we must fight back!_" she paused, taking a deep breath. "Now, who have you told about this?"

"Just you." Matt said. "You were the closest."

"Actually, Lara's closer, seeing that she lives directly below this apartment." Inez pointed out. "And since she's a part of the backup Cybersquad, Hacker will probably be after her too, so she needs to know too."

"I know." Matt said. "It's just that I don't know which apartment she lives in, nor do I know her that well. I felt better coming to you first."

"That's okay Matt." Inez said. "Like me, you're probably a bit shaken up about this discovery too. I'd probably have done the same. But now we need to contact the others, including Lara, Peter, and Alex, before Hacker beats us to them. Speaking of which, any idea where Hacker is now?"

"The article said the Wreaker was sighted several miles from town, but that was much earlier in the morning." Matt said. "Hacker will be much closer now, presuming that he knows where to look for us."

"Mostly likely he will." Inez said. "He probably wouldn't try this stunt without having a way to track us down first."

"That can't be a good thing." Matt said. "That could mean that no matter what we do, or where we go, he'll know where we are."

"Whatever the case, it means time is short." Inez said. "We need to figure out a surefire way to contact everybody and let them know about Hacker."

"But how?" Matt asked. "We can't really use a phone, now can we? Suppose someone was listening? And instant messaging is no good, because they might not be around a computer or any other kind of receiving device. And going by foot to contact them like I did for you would take too long."

"There is only one thing I know we can use to contact them all, and all at once." Inez said, holding up her SKWAK pad. "We've tried contacting Cyberspace. Now let's see if we can contact each other."

* * *

"Hacker's in the Real World?" Alex repeated, surprised.

"That's a very bad thing, isn't it?" Peter asked.

"Yes, it's a bad thing!" Jackie responded. "Who knows what Hacker will do!"

"There is one thing we can be sure he'll try to do." Inez said. "Get revenge on all of us."

"You mean kill us." Peter repeated.

"In Hacker's current mental state, most likely." Matt admitted.

"I knew there was a bigger catch to this backup support thing I agreed to..." Peter mumbled. "Now not even home is safe."

"Don't be such a harbinger of doom, Peter." Lara remarked. "Hacker's hasn't attacked yet. We still have time to figure out what to do."

"Lara's right, guys." Jackie agreed. "What we need is a plan, and a very good one."

Inez could see that Jackie had started to pace on her end of the SKWAK pad connection.

"I'm thinking we should all meet up and think this through." Alex suggested.

"Agreed!" Peter concurred instantly.

"No, that's a very bad idea." Matt said. "Then, if Hacker should come and attack while we're meeting, we run the risk of him taking us out all at once."

"Matt's right, we should stay where we are." Inez said. "The risk is still there, yes, but then we're all scattered about. Hacker would have to take one of us out, and take the time to seek out another, buying the rest of us more time to come up with a solution. Not a pretty idea, I know, but still, it's much better than grouping up like that."

"And, if we stay where we are, then we already know where everyone's at." Jackie added. "Therefore, if someone should need help, we can go help them."

"Alright, I suppose that could work." Alex agreed. "But what are we going to do from there?"

"I think we need to get someone actually on board the Grim Wreaker." Lara voiced. "Once there, one could not only spy on Hacker and his plans, but maybe figure out how he got into the Real World in the first place, cut off that means of travel, and perhaps even obtain a better way to defend ourselves, and the Real World."

"That could work." Inez said, rubbing her chin as she thought the idea through. "The only problem would be actually getting aboard the ship."

"Well, whatever we do, we need to keep it as low key as possible." Matt said. "We can't risk too many people finding out about all of this, especially the existence of Cyberspace."

"Right, running the risk of triggering an inter-dimensional war of no escape." Peter muttered negatively. "I still have a hard time believing that could actually happen."

"Trust the people who's seen it first hand, Peter." Inez said.

"Do you think Hacker's really going to go after us, the backup squad?" Alex asked. "Unlike you guys, we've only gone up against Hacker once, officially, and visited Cyberspace altogether a mere handful of times."

"We can't run that risk, Alex." Jackie said. "Hacker maybe mad, but he's still has his intelligence. He'll know that just getting rid of me, Inez, and Matt would solve his problems. He'll know that, even though you haven't been around much, you'll guys will still be a threat."

"Risk is a part of the game." Peter summed up. "It's the part of this gig I hate the most, but it's unavoidable, all the same."

"Exactly." Inez said, glancing out her window at the rainy sky outside. "Now enough chatter. We have a plan to come up with."


	4. Acts of War

Hacker's first act of war. Brief Matt/Inez moment. An update on Cyberspace's side of things. Hacker's prisoner from the end of "Devil's Advocate" appears. That scene isn't entirely necessary, but I wanted to get the prisoner in this fanfic sooner rather than later. Enjoy!

4.

Acts of War

The Grim Wreaker cruised along, coming ever nearer to the Real World city Hacker knew withheld his long-time enemies, the Cybersquad. To be perfectly honest, he was a bit surprised. Granted, he only knew so much about the Real World, but he had presumed he would have been confronted by someone by now.

Clearly not.

"Fifteen kilometers to the city and counting, boss." Buzz reported from his station. "Should take another hour to get there at present speed."

"I'm in no hurry." Hacker said, looking determinedly out the viewscreen before him at his intended destination, gripping the controls tightly. "Any sign of trouble yet, Delete?"

"None, boss." the robot replied, looking up from the sensor screen. "Maybe they don't know we're here yet."

Hacker snorted. "Hardly." he said. "They know. I know it. I know that they know."

"Um, right boss." Buzz agreed hesitantly.

"But then again, if they didn't I wouldn't complain." Hacker admitted, leaning back to think for a moment. "Either way, it isn't going to do them much good. I will get my revenge on those Earth brats."

"But why the kids, boss?" Delete asked, still unsure he liked this plan. "Isn't there another way?"

"I've already _tried _every other way, Delete!" Hacker exclaimed. "This _is _the only way to be rid of them, once and for all! They've conspired against me for long enough! Once they are out of the way, Cyberspace will be free to conquer, and nothing can stop me! Not Motherboard, not Dr. Marbles, not the illegal selling of Kryoxide on the Black Market..."

"What does that have to do with this?" Buzz asked without thinking.

"Idiot!" Hacker exclaimed. "Clearly, it takes a genius to see the connection!"

"Clearly." Buzz repeated, and glanced at Delete. He pointed at the Hacker's back with one finger, and spun another around his ear, indicating that Hacker was crazy. Not that they didn't already know this, but it was only until recently that they started to speak about it in secret.

Suddenly, a beeping rang out. "A whole bunch of blinky dots just appeared on my screen, boss!" Delete exclaimed, alarmed.

And sure enough, a whole wing of American fighter jets surrounded the Wreaker, swooping down low to the ground to match the Wreaker's abnormally low altitude.

"About time!" Hacker grumbled.

"We're getting a transmission, boss!" Buzz announced.

"On speakers!" Hacker ordered.

"...and we will fire." the transmission began, halfway through. "Repeat, this is wing leader alpha to unidentified craft. You are approaching civilized territory. Please land immediately and state your intentions. Make any hostile actions, and we will fire. I say again, this is wing leader alpha to unidentified craft. Please respond. We know you are not of Earth origin. We are here on peaceful terms, but we have orders to fire upon your vessel at the first sign of hostile actions. Repeat, this is wing leader alpha to unidentified craft. Please respond to our transmission. We represent the United States of America, and we do not wish to cause harm..."

"Lower laser cannon!" Hacker ordered. "They dare tell me that they wish to do no harm..."

The green dome on the underside of the Wreaker slid open, and the menacing laser cannon slid out.

The aircraft surrounding the Wreaker reacted immediately, seeing the cannon for what it truly was. They opened fire, most of them attacking with machine guns, but one or two fired a low-power missile. Clearly, they intended to only warn the Wreaker to not fire the cannon.

But Hacker had other plans.

"Minor damage to the hull." Buzz reported, unconcerned.

"Probably only scratched the paint." Delete remarked, also unconcerned. They all knew how superior Cyberspace armor was to armor in the Real World.

"Target the closest craft, and fire!" Hacker exclaimed angrily.

The laser cannon adjusted it's aim to point at the closest jet and fired. The green bolt of energy sliced right through the plane's middle, igniting it's fuel to erupt into a fireball before crashing to the Earth. At this point, the jets stopped holding back and unleashed their full firepower.

It still wasn't enough. For every mere dent they made in the Wreaker's black hull, another jet was shot down. Two jets surged ahead of the Wreaker and came about again for a frontal attack, but still did little damage, and resulted in one of the two jets in getting destroyed. Finally, their numbers being severely crippled and drawing ever nearer to populated areas where harm to pedestrians was more likely, they broke off on their attack, and fled. The Wreaker ignored them, continuing on it's path.

"Retract laser cannon, boss?" Delete asked.

"No, leave it out." Hacker said. "We just won our first battle, but the war is only just beginning..."

* * *

"There, that takes care of it all." Inez said, shutting her SKWAK off. "The only one not safely at home is you Matt."

"I'm not going anywhere." Matt persisted. "I'm already here, so there's no reason for me to leave."

"Matt, we already agreed it was best for us to all split up, so Hacker couldn't go after us all at once." Inez persisted. "Besides, if you're worried about me, don't be. Remember, Lara lives with her foster parents directly under this apartment. She can help if it comes to it."

"Inez, there has to be more we can do." Matt said. "We need to come up with a plan to stop Hacker and quickly. We can't do that very well when we're all separated like this!"

"You were the one who supported that idea immensely!" Inez said.

"Well, I changed my mind!" Matt argued. "A lot has happened, and now that I think about it, staying apart like this seems to me trying to run away from a problem that won't go away on it's own."

"I know that Matt." Inez said. "And we're not. We're just insuring that we can stay safe long enough _to _solve the problem."

"Doesn't seem like it." Matt muttered.

"Look, I know there's a lot going through your mind that's messing things up." Inez said. "I know because the same thing's happening to me. But we mustn't loose our heads. If we have any intention of stopping a bellicose cyborg like Hacker, we must keep our act together! Now please Matt, go home."

Matt sighed, but nodded. "All right." he said. "I will." he looked at Inez for a moment. "Please stay safe."

"I will, Matt." Inez promised. "You stay safe too."

Matt nodded, then walked out the door and was gone from sight.

* * *

"Approaching coordinates, Motherboard." Dr. Marbles reported as his cybercraft loomed closer to the Northern Frontier. "Preparing to scan the area."

"Keep an eye out for Hacker, just in case." Motherboard requested over the radio. "It could be a trap."

"I know." Marbles replied, and brought the craft to a stop. "I have arrived at the coordinates. Beginning scan now."

The cybercraft hummed as it scanned the area of Cyberspace it sat in, covering a full three-hundred and sixty degrees around it.

"Scan complete." Marbles reported after a few moments. "Studying results for any clues."

And he found more than he cared for. And one in particular made his heart sink.

"Motherboard," he said, with a sigh. "I found traces of portal radiation, and a slight tearing in the fabric of Cyberspace, big enough for a ship to slip through."

"Then it is true." Motherboard stated sadly. "Hacker has found a way into the Real World."

* * *

The door slid open, and Hacker stepped inside, looking down at his prisoner within the cage that sat, alone, in the middle of the room.

"I believe I sensed the Wreaker traveling through a portal a few hours ago." the prisoner remarked. "I suppose that means the device was a success."

Hacker nodded. "We're already on our way to the first location that you so conveniently provided for me." he said with an evil grin.

"Not because I wanted to." the prisoner remarked. "You forced that knowledge from me."

"Yes, I can be quite persuasive when I want to be." Hacker remarked.

"Too late to talk you out of this, I suppose?" the prisoner asked.

"You even think you could?" Hacker asked rhetorically.

"You know, they will stop you." the prisoner said. "They've done it before, so they can do it again."

"That's what you'd like to think, wouldn't you?" Hacker asked. "But don't set your heart on it. Your friends are as good as dead, or my name isn't The Hacker!"

And with an angry flutter of his cape, he was gone again.


	5. Chaos Averted

This story has been mostly just talk and worry, but we're building things up. Starting the next chapter, it's most likely going to be action from here on out. ;)

5.

Chaos Averted

"Approaching the first destination, boss!" Delete announced suddenly.

Hacker aborted the recharging process and turned his chair around to look. Grabbing the Wreaker's a controls and taking them out of autopilot, he slowed the ship down.

"Ready the laser cannon." he requested.

"Ready, Boss!" Buzz announced.

"We're directly over the target, Boss." Delete added.

"Switching to underside camera view." Hacker said.

The display on the forward viewscreen changed to view the target from above, as the Wreaker came to a stop above it. Hacker leaned forward and studied the target curiously. It appeared to be a farm. A large field stretched across the land to one side of it, and there were several fenced in areas containing livestock. Sitting to one side of the farm was a small two-story house. Hacker noted that this would probably be his chief target.

"Who is our first target, again?" Hacker asked, having forgotten.

"The Earthling named Matt, Boss." Delete replied, surprised Hacker had forgotten.

"Right." Hacker said, recovering. "Scan the area." he ordered. "Let's see if he's actually here, shall we?"

"Scanning." Buzz reported. "It'll be a minute or two before we have any results."

"But Boss," Delete said, "Shouldn't we attack now? I mean, the longer we wait, the more chance they have to escape, right?"

"Very true, Delete." Hacker agreed, to the robot's surprise. "But we currently have no idea where exactly our prey is at the moment, and it's possible that he isn't even here at all. It would not surprise me if he wasn't, though, because I'm sure word of my arrival to this dimension has reached their ears by now. But when I do finally line up a shot, I don't intend to miss."

They waited a few more moments.

"How is that scan coming along, Buzz?" Hacker asked.

"It finished already." Buzz said. "But it turned up negative, so I'm running it again."

"Don't bother." Hacker said, returning the forward viewscreen's angle back to forward. "If it didn't find it the first time, then he's not here."

Buzz and Delete exchanged glances.

"Why Boss? What are we using to track them?" Delete asked.

"Their SKWAK pads." Hacker said with a grin. "Moving on to next closest target."

With a roar, the Wreaker zoomed away, heading ever closer to the city skyline now plainly in view...

* * *

"What are we going to do?" Digit exclaimed, pacing across the command room of Control Central.

"Calm down, Digit!" Motherboard soothed.

"Calm down? How can I calm down?" Digit asked, clearly stressed out. "Hacker's in the Real World! Who knows what he could be doing!"

"Knowing Hacker, he's probably going after the kids." Marbles reasoned gravely.

"Exactly!" Digit exclaimed. "So what are we standing around here for? We gotta stop Hacker!"

"We cannot!" Motherboard said. "The moment Hacker left Cyberspace, we lost our ability to track his position! He could be anywhere by now!"

"Then let's pull the kids into Cyberspace, where they're safe!" Digit suggested instead, hopping up onto Motherboard's control panel.

"I cannot do that either." Motherboard said. "I cannot seem to reach the Real World in anyway."

"Then at least contact them, tell them that Hacker's in their world!" Digit said, desperate.

"You do not understand Digit." Motherboard said. "I have already _tried _but for some reason I cannot contact them. Their SKWAK pads are not responding to my hails. I have been cut off from them!"

"And the SKWAK pads are how we keep track of the kids, as well." Marbles added. "If Motherboard cannot trace the pads, then she cannot trace the kids. The issue is the same as Hacker. The kids could be anywhere."

"Anywhere?" Digit repeated. "What do you mean anywhere?"

"As in we simply cannot just pull them into Cyberspace or contact them without knowing their exact position!" Motherboard explained, trying to remain calm herself.

"What?" Digit said, bewildered, and now hopping up to stand on the lip of Motherboard's monitor. "You mean you have no _idea _where they are?"

"In short..." Motherboard said, "...yes."

Digit let out an exasperated yell, and let himself fall to the floor.

Marbles helped him up again. "Any idea why you cannot reach the kids's SKWAK pads, Motherboard?" he asked.

"I do not have a confirmed theory yet," Motherboard admitted, "but I am willing to surmise that Hacker is somehow responsible."

"Hacker has the ability to block transmissions from the SKWAK pads?" Digit exclaimed, panicking again. "How did he get that?"

"Given the right equipment and the knowledge of the right frequencies, he could easily do it." Motherboard said.

"But if Hacker knows the frequencies and has a means to trace them well enough to block them..." Marbles began.

"...then he has the ability to trace those frequencies straight to the source, yes." Motherboard admitted. "Meaning that the time Hacker would require to track down each one of the children and destroy them would be significantly reduced."

"We're running out of time, then?" Digit exclaimed. "Then we need to do something, NOW!"

"Of course, I agree, Digit." Motherboard agreed. "But our options are significantly limited at the moment."

"You mean we can't do _ANYTHING_?" Digit exclaimed, turning pale.

"For the moment, it certainly seems that way." Motherboard relented.

Digit let out another squeal of exasperation and toppled over onto his back again.

Marbles was rubbing his chin. "Actually," he said, getting an idea. "There might actually be one thing we can do..."

"There is?" Digit asked hopefully, sitting up instantly. "How?"

"We use the portals." Marbles explained.

"The portals?" Digit repeated, frowning and not understanding.

But Motherboard did. "Yes, that could work." she said. "I can even provide him with a limited amount of information of where he could look for them."

"Who look for who?" Digit asked, lost.

"We don't even need to drop him off in a specific area, even." Marbles added. "Just in the general area should suffice."

"What are we talking about here?" Digit asked. "If, when you say 'he', you mean me, I'll do it! Just tell me what it is we're planning here!"

Marbles and Motherboard hesitated for a moment.

"We are considering the possibility of someone physically going to track down the kids and warn them, making sure they stay safe, in person, so to circumvent the problem of communication by SKWAK pad." Motherboard explained.

"And when we say 'someone'," Marbles added, "We mean you, Digit."

"Me?" Digit repeated, pointing to himself, stunned. "You want to send _me _to the _Real World_?"

* * *

With a flash of pink light, the portal opened, and spat Digit out onto the ground.

"Oww..." he groaned, picking himself up. "That ride's a lot rougher than your typical ride across Cyberspace."

He looked around in the seemingly empty portion of the Real World city.

"Gee..." he remarked. "I've never really seen all that much of the Real World. It's really not too unlike home. It's just more..."

A sudden honking sound made him turn.

"...DANGEROUS!" he exclaimed, and quickly leapt aside of the car that had been speeding towards him.

The driver in the car, seeing Digit in the way, and served to miss him, straying into the other lane of traffic. This caused more cars to serve and stop suddenly, and pretty soon there was a whole traffic jam surrounded around Digit, who wasn't at all sure what he should do now. It wasn't long before police cars showed up.

"All right, what happened here?" said one officer, the apparent leader.

"Looks like some bird messed up traffic, chief." another officer said, working his way into the center of the jam, where Digit nervously sat. He looked at Digit for a moment. "A really weird bird, too."

Digit chuckled nervously, and stood, starting to back up. He opened his beak to say something, but nothing came out. He bumped into the legs of another officer.

"Don't worry chief, I'll catch him!" he said, and lunged for Digit.

"Yipes!" Digit exclaimed, and sped away, out of the officer's grasp.

He avoided several of the other officers at random before he suddenly remembered he could fly, and began twirling his tail feathers, lifting into the air.

"He's getting away!" one officer exclaimed, and tried to grab Digit as the cybird circled around to have more room to gain more altitude.

Just as Digit thought he was going to get away, a net suddenly entangled itself over his head.

"Got 'im!" the officer responsible announced, standing on the roof of a car has he held the handle of the net tightly.

Digit struggled for a moment, then, out of desperation, beaked the mesh of the net and broke free, zooming away.

"Whew!" he exclaimed. "What a weird place this is."

He landed on a concealed spot on a roof, and pulled out his SKWAK pad.

"Here's hoping." he said, turning it on. "Digit to Motherboard, ya read me?"

"Loud and clear, Digit." Motherboard replied, her face appearing on the pad's screen. "The modifications Dr. Marbles made to your SKWAK pad's programming are working. I can trace you very well."

"Now, all I have to do, is start relaying this program to the other SKWAKs and they should start working again, too, right?" Digit recapped. "Do I need to send it in any particular direction?"

"No." Motherboard replied. "If the SKWAK pad in question is within range of yours, and it should, the pad should automatically receive the transmission and install the program within to its own systems. Simply press the transmit button, and the SKWAK pad will do the rest. But you must hurry, Digit. You must still find the kids, and we are rapidly running out of time..."


	6. Perfect Chaos

The action picks up here! ;)

6.

Perfect Chaos

Inez paced her bedroom nervously. Matt was right, this was stupid plan, just waiting for Hacker to start attacking, but it was the best she could come up with, considering her options. If she could only just communicate, or better yet, have access to Cyberspace, then she could do a whole lot more.

But she didn't. So all she had left to do was wait.

She considered, actually considered, letting her parents in on this whole ordeal, which would also entail revealing the existence of Cyberspace to them. They were already suspicious, especially with Matt's sudden and frantic arrival and departure, and Inez's sudden wish to stay locked up in her bedroom. They probably knew about the news article that clued the Cybersquad in about Hacker's presence in the Real World by now as well.

But there was a lot of risks Inez's overanalyzing brain had to consider. One, was of course, the fact that her parents could just not believe her. Then there was the fact that they might react badly to the news _and _the threat, causing more problems. And, biggest of all, there was the knowledge that too many people knowing about Cyberspace existence was a bad thing to have happen.

It was this last risk that was holding her back. Jackie, Peter, Alex, and Lara, probably would have talked themselves around it anyway and told their parents (or in the case of Lara's foster parents, guardians) but Inez, and probably Matt, wouldn't dare. They both had seen first hand what revealing Cyberspace's existence could do to both dimensions.

But then Inez wondered if she would even have a choice. Hacker probably wouldn't give any warning when he attacked. And once he did, clearly the secret would come out. Assuming they all survived long enough to tell the tale. They were pretty much sitting ducks like this. Inez was growing to dislike the idea more and more, but like she had already determined, she _had _no other solution. And neither did anybody else, Cybersquad or backup squad alike.

What she needed, was a third option.

And, ironically enough, it sounded like a beeping SKWAK pad.

Surprised, Inez picked up her pad and turned it on, thinking it would be one of her friends here in the Real World, but to her great surprise, it was Motherboard.

"Mother B!" Inez exclaimed happily. "Oh thank heavens, is it ever good to see your face!"

"I can say the same thing, Inez." Motherboard said, smiling.

"We've been trying to reach you!" Inez said, still excited.

"As have we." Motherboard said, her smile fading. "Hacker is in..."

"...the Real World, we already know." Inez said. "We've taken steps to separate each other so that Hacker can't take us all out at once, but we don't like that idea very much."

"Understandable." Motherboard said. "It is a logical idea, though, considering you could not contact Cyberspace with your SKWAK pads due to Hacker's jamming signal."

"So _that's _what happened!" Inez said, catching on. "But, then, how are you contacting me?"

"Digit has a modified SKWAK pad that is transmitting a special program that adapts all receiving SKWAK pads to compensate for Hacker's jamming signal." Motherboard explained. "Your pad was the first to receive the program and adapt. Lara's has just followed suit."

"That makes sense, she lives just downstairs from me." Inez said. "But, how is Digit sending out the signal? He'd have to be..." she trailed off, answering her own question. "Is he in the Real World, too?"

Motherboard nodded. "We had very limited options here as well." she said. "Do not worry, he is attempting to conceal himself from unwanted eyes as much as possible."

"I'm more worried about Hacker being here, at the moment." Inez said. "He's already made front page news; he's not bothering to hide himself."

"He thinks you all have nowhere to go." Motherboard said.

"But that's changed now that we can communicate again." Inez said, feeling relieved. "So what's the plan?"

"The plan is to..." Motherboard began.

But Inez suddenly indicated her to be silent. She could hear something rattling. She looked around her room, but couldn't find the source. The rattling started to increase. Then Inez saw that a glass of water she had left on her bedside table from the previous night rippling. She then sensed the floor beneath her quiver. Her whole bedroom was shaking.

And it only increased, to the point that things were starting to fall off their shelves due to the intense shaking. Inez first thought earthquake, but just as quickly scratched it out. The shaking didn't fit with an earthquake. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a shadow pass over the busy city street outside her window. Gulping, she stepped over to the window and looked out it, seeing an all too familiar large, looming shape.

The Grim Wreaker.

"Motherboard!" Inez yelled, turning around and looking back at her SKWAK pad, "It's..."

But she got no further when her bedroom wall suddenly exploded, knocking her to the floor. Debris came raining down on her. Somewhere far off she heard screaming, but her ears were ringing too much to tell from where. Brushing the debris off quickly, she looked behind her and saw the Wreaker's laser cannon sparkling, charging up for another shot.

Panicking, Inez looked for her SKWAK pad, fallen from her hand sometime in the explosion. She finally found it in one corner, not too far from where she stood. Smiling, she rushed towards it...

...only to leapt back as the laser cannon fired again, destroying that corner of the room, taking the SKWAK pad with it. Inez slammed into a nearby wall, throwing up her arms as debris came flying at her, picking at her clothes and skin.

"Inez!" she heard someone cry out. She recognized the voice instantly.

"Mom! Dad!" she exclaimed to herself.

She then threw caution and all of her previous doubts to the wind. They all had only one chance left now. Quickly, she raced out her bedroom door and into the hallway. She fell to the floor as another shot from the laser cannon blew out that door, taking the surrounding wall out with it.

"Mom! Dad!" Inez exclaimed, rushing into the living room.

She saw them rushing in from the kitchen, both alright.

For the moment.

"Inez! Thank heavens!" her mother exclaimed, grabbing her daughter and pulling her into a embrace. "You're safe!"

Another shot from the laser cannon blasted into the kitchen, reacting with their various kitchen appliances and adding to the explosion. All three of them were knocked from their feet.

"We won't be if you don't follow me and do everything I say to do!" Inez exclaimed over the cacophony.

"What's happening?" he dad asked.

"I'll explain later!" Inez said, grabbing their hands and leading them towards the apartment's front door. "But you need to obey every command I give! It's vital! No hesitation!"

Her parents looked as if they were going to resist, but another shot from the Wreaker's laser cannon blasted into the living room, spraying debris all around them, spurred them forward.

Inez threw open the door and pushed her parent out it ahead of her. "We need to hurry! I think Hacker's lost track of where I am, but that won't last long!"

"Hacker?" her mother exclaimed, panicked. "Who's Hacker?"

"The guy shooting at us!" Inez said as they raced into the hallway outside their apartment.

As they ran, another shot from the laser cannon blasted out their still open front door, taking out what very little remained intact of the apartment.

"Go!" Inez urged as her parents slowed to look back.

Hacker seemed to have deduced where Inez was, and was guessing with deadly accuracy where she would be now. As they passed neighboring apartments as they rushed for the end of the hallway, laser blasts exploded through those neighboring apartments. Inez hoped they weren't taking anybody out with those shots.

Finally, they reached the end of the hallway. Her parents, out of habit, moved for the elevator, but Inez motioned for the stairs.

"The stairs!" she exclaimed, pushing them towards them, "We'd be sitting ducks in the elevator!"

Her guess was proven right when the elevator was destroyed in a large and fiery explosion as they ducked into the stairs. They raced down one level, then Inez directed her parents into the hallway on that floor.

"Shouldn't we going as far away from that thing as possible?" Inez's father asked.

"We are!" Inez exclaimed. "Just trust me!"

It seemed Hacker had lost track of Inez again, for the laser cannon fire had suddenly ceased. Inez didn't know for how long, but she hoped for long enough to make her escape. Finally, they reached the apartment directly under their ruined one. Lara's.

Inez started to pound on the door, but halfway through the second pound, Lara threw open the door.

"Inez!" Lara exclaimed. "You _are _alive! I heard Hacker firing, and thought the worst!"

"Not yet, but we need to get out of here, now!" Inez said, pushing her way in. "I need your SKWAK pad, and I'll get an escape route open for us! You get your foster parents!"

"But.." Lara began to object.

"Do it! We all have got to get out of here!" Inez yelled, taking the SKWAK pad from Lara as he pulled it out.

Lara nodded, and ran to a nearby door. "Guys, get in here, now!" she yelled. "Forget that fire, just get over here!"

Inez quickly opened a channel to Cyberspace with the SKWAK pad.

"Inez?" came Motherboard's voice.

"Mother B!" Inez exclaimed. "It's Hacker! He's attacking, and we need..."

She was cut off as Hacker opened fire again, this time on Lara's apartment, taking out the living room wall. Inez's mother yelled as they all instinctively ducked.

"...we need a portal to escape!" Inez repeated.

"One moment, I must pinpoint your signal." Motherboard said.

"They're coming!" Lara exclaimed to Inez.

"Hold on one more moment, everybody!" Inez urged. "We're almost out of here, I promise!"

Another laser blast echoed out as it hit somewhere nearby, out of sight. Then, the familiar pink swirl of the portal appeared as the portal flashed into existence.

"What is..." Inez's dad started to say, but was cut off again as Hacker opened fire again.

This time with a vengeance.

Three laser blasts struck the apartment's kitchen, the blast knocking Lara back from the doorway. A fourth caused the ceiling to collapse, filling in the room.

"No!" Lara exclaimed, rushing forward to the doorway.

"Get in there!" Inez said, giving her parents a shove into the portal, then went for Lara, dragging her towards the portal.

"No!" Lara repeated, resisting. "They were right there when Hacker fired! They could...they can't be...aren't they..."

"Get in the portal, Lara!" Inez yelled, dragging her distraught friend over to the portal. Hacker fired again, this time the shot passing dangerously close to where they stood, so close they could feel it's heat as it sheered by. "Hacker's tracking the portal!"

Hacker fired again. Inez saw it out of the corner of her eye, and grabbed Lara and threw both her and herself into the portal as the shot soared towards them. A wild ride later, they crashed to the floor of Control Central roughly. An explosion burst out of the still open portal, spewing out debris with it, before the portal collapsed.

Silence fell.

Dr. Marbles rushed over to them. "Are you all right?" he asked the two girls.

"I am." Inez said, getting to her feet, and helping Lara up. "So's Lara, at least physically."

"Physically?" Marbles repeated, puzzled, looking at Lara's distraught face as she avoided eye contact.

"Hacker's attack has already taken it's first lives." Inez said gravely.

They all hung their heads for a moment.

Then Inez suddenly remembered who else was here.

"Mom and dad!" she exclaimed, and looked around.

"Over there." Motherboard said, gesturing with her head to spot behind Inez.

Inez turned, and indeed saw her parents, holding each other tightly, clearly scared witless, and looking around at their surroundings, trying to take it all in at once. Inez's mother caught her daughter's eye.

"Inez." she said softly. "Where are we?"

"Heh, um, mom and dad," Inez began, chuckling nervously, "Welcome to Cyberspace."


	7. Cat And Mouse

The action builds... ;)

7.

Cat and Mouse

Dr. Marbles watched as Inez animatedly explained the long story of her adventures in Cyberspace to her stunned parents. He wished he could here, but case Inez's parents panicked, they and Inez had been locked into the gardens, to hold the conversation in private. Marbles still wished he could take part in the conversation.

"You cannot go in there, Dr. Marbles." Motherboard stated, reading his thoughts. "Inez's parents are quite frightened. They will not react well to a cyborg's presence until they better adjust to the idea of Cyberspace's existence."

"I know, Motherboard, it's just this is a big risk we're taking." Marbles sighed. "We both know the risk we take every time we reveal Cyberspace's existence to yet another Earthling."

"I know." Motherboard admitted. "But there was little choice. If they had not been brought into Cyberspace, Hacker would have killed them."

"And enough life has been taken because of Hacker already." Lara added, sitting curled up in a ball in a corner, where she had been morning the loss of her foster parents.

"How are you holding up, Lara?" Marbles asked, looking concerned.

"Okay." Lara said. "They were good friends, though, almost like parents to me, too. The idea that they're gone is...shocking."

"You are taking the situation very well, however." Motherboard remarked. "Most would break down completely from the shock and pain."

"I've had practice." Lara said. "When my real parents died."

They were silent for a moment.

"Marbles, you do realize that we may have to bring more Earthlings into Cyberspace in order to save them, correct?" Motherboard asked suddenly, changing the subject.

"Yes, I do." Marbles said. "And the longer Hacker stays in Cyberspace, the more damage he will cause, physically and otherwise."

"We need to bring Hacker back to Cyberspace where he belongs, and quickly." Motherboard agreed. "Unfortunately, I see no way to do it."

"I, too, am coming up with little solutions to our dilemma, Motherboard." Marbles admitted. "But I do have an idea, that, with some testing, could work."

"What will it require?" Motherboard asked.

"A barren cybersite, and an assistant." Marbles replied. "Speaking of which, I should tell you that I've contacted Dr. Archimedes, and arranged to conduct such tests at cybersite Eureka, with his help, of course. We shouldn't be disrupted from this work, either. With Hacker away from Cyberspace, it does mean the rest of us are safe from attack by him."

"Yes it is." Motherboard agreed. "When will you leave?"

"As soon as possible, just give the word." Marbles said.

"Marbles, the word is given." Motherboard said. "But before you go, please take my manual controls out of observe mode."

"Very well, but why?" Marbles asked.

"I wish to have someone here to conduct the rudimentary operations while I concentrate on more important objectives." Motherboard explained.

Marbles typed in the command codes that would unlock Motherboard's control panel. "Okay, but if I will be gone, who will operate the controls?" he asked.

"I could!" Lara said, standing up, and thankful for a distraction. "Just give me the lowdown of what I need to do, and I'll do it."

"She will suffice." Motherboard agreed. "Now go, Marbles, conduct your tests. The sooner we have a means to pull Hacker back into Cyberspace, the better."

Marbles nodded, and left, leaving Motherboard to begin instructing Lara.

* * *

Matt was still heading for home. He wasn't too inclined to reach it very quickly, so he was taking a pace that was much slower than the breakneck pace he had used to reach Inez's apartment. Shivering, he pulled his black windbreaker closer to his body, even though it had long since stopped raining. He was shivering more in fear of Hacker, coming ever closer.

He sensed the fear was spreading too, for the pedestrians walking on the streets, even though they were at a loss about what was happening, and who Hacker was and where he had come from, seemed much more on edge. He was starting to see fewer and fewer. Matt wondered if the officials had confirmed Hacker as a threat and where advising everyone in his range to stay at home.

Matt knew that if Hacker wanted to get at them, though, staying at home wouldn't do them any good. Which was why he didn't want to go home and sit, awaiting the inevitable, doing nothing to try and fix the problem. The only reason he had obeyed was because he knew he didn't have any better things to do.

For some time he walked, staring at the sidewalk. But then he noticed that the pedestrians who passed him were suddenly running back the way the came. Suddenly he felt and heard dull thuds from somewhere not so far off. he finally stopped and looked up when he heard sirens, and saw several police cars, a couple paramedics, and a fire truck, whizz by.

He turned to see where they were going, and saw in the distance, a cloud of smoke billowing out into the sky. His stomach sank as he realized that smoke was originating from the area Inez's apartment was. But his stomach sank even further as he recognized the Grim Wreaker hovering nearby, lazily circling the area, surveying the damage. Occasionally a flash of light would bounce off the cybercraft's hull, and Matt suspected somebody was firing at it, but causing very little damage.

Matt's theory was suddenly proven right when the Wreaker suddenly fired it's laser cannon without warning down at some unseen target. Another dull thud rang out, and Matt felt the aftershocks ripple through the ground. Terrified of what he was seeing, he started to back up, going past an alley as he stared at Hacker's ship.

Then, without warning, somebody standing within the alley grabbed Matt, covered his mouth, and dragged him into the alley. Matt started to fight whomever it was, but then whoever it was shushed him.

"Shh, it's okay, it's me, Mattie!" exclaimed a familiar voice.

Matt froze, and suddenly forced his way out of the person's grasp. "Digit?" he said, stunned to see the cybird, standing on top of a trash can. "You're here? In the Real World?"

"On a special mission for Motherboard." Digit explained. "We know Hacker's here too. I was here to get in contact with you all."

"Contact?" Matt said. "So the SKWAKs really aren't working right?"

"Your's should now." Digit said, holding up his own, slightly modified SKWAK pad. "The doc gave me this special pad to override Hacker's jamming signal and relay a special programs to all of the other SKWAKs in range."

"Hacker's jamming our SKWAKs?" Matt repeated, as he pulled out his own pad. "How's he doing that?"

"Dunno." Digit remarked. "But there are a lot of questions we asking about all of this."

Matt suddenly remembered one of his own. "Didge, Hacker's attacking something." he said urgently. "I think it might be Inez's home."

"It is." Digit replied. "It's all over the news channels you Earthlings have. Saw one at a store I passed. Government's sending in people to try and stop Hacker, and are trying to evacuate the city."

"That won't do any good, Hacker will only follow." Matt said. "But Inez, do we know if she's all right?"

"I don't, I haven't checked in with home yet." Digit said. "Things have gotten really busy when Hacker's attack started."

"I noticed." Matt said, switching on his SKWAK pad. "If my SKWAK's really working right, Didge, then why hasn't Mother B contacted me?"

"I dunno, but she's undoubtably busy too." Digit said. "She and the doc were working on a way to stop Hacker when I got sent here."

"Right." Matt said, then focused his attention to his SKWAK. "Matt to Motherboard, come in Motherboard!"

* * *

A beeping noise rang out in the control room. Lara looked up from where she had been busy adjusting the power flow from Power Station Gamma. "What's that?" she asked.

"Someone is calling us." Motherboard replied, who seemed distracted as she worked on whatever it was she was working on. "Press the button on the control panel on the left hand side to accept the transmission. It should be blinking."

Lara saw the button and pressed it. "This is Control Central, how can I help you?" she said aloud as a video feed was established and brought up on a nearby screen.

"Lara?" came the surprised response.

"Matt?" Lara said, also surprised, but relieved. "Where are you?"

"In an alley connecting Seventh and Huston streets, why?" Matt replied.

"Hacker should be right near you!" Lara exclaimed, worried.

"We know, me and Digit can see him from here."

"Digit? Digit's there with you?"

"Yeah, didn't you know? Why are you there anyway?"

"Hacker attacked my apartment, as well as Inez's!" Lara exclaimed, like the answer was obvious. "We both just nearly escaped!"

"So Inez is safe?" Matt asked, relieved.

"Yes." Lara said, then paused for a moment. "But other life was lost."

"What? Whose?"

"I'll explain later." Lara said, avoiding the subject. "What's going on?"

"Digit said I should be able to call Cyberspace now." Matt said. "I wanted to see if he was right. Who else you got there with you?"

"Just me, Inez, and Inez's parents." Lara explained.

"Inez's _parents_?" Matt repeated, surprised.

"They would've been killed had we not rescued them." Lara pointed out.

"I can see that, but...how are they taking it?"

"Not well, but at least they haven't totally freaked out yet." Lara said, looking behind here where Inez was still talking with her parents. "Motherboard and Marbles reasoned, though, that we might have to pull others into Cyberspace as well."

"Shoot." Matt cursed, but sighed. "I guess there's no avoiding it now, though."

"How are things going there?"

"It's chaos here. The government doesn't have clue what's happening, so they're evacuating the city, and Didge has indicated they intend to try and destroy Hacker and his ship. Probably by any means possible."

"Can that be done?" Lara asked, wondering if that was all it would take to solve all of their problems."

"Digit is saying here that it depends." Matt replied, looking off-screen briefly. "But he also points out that if we intend to keep Cyberspace secret, we probably shouldn't let them. If they succeed in destroying Hacker's ship, they'll examine the remains, and possibly learn more than we want them to."

"Good point." Lara admitted. "Listen, do you have any ideas, or do you..."

But she trailed off when Matt's face suddenly turned into one of panic as he saw something off-screen.

"Matt?" Lara asked, alarmed.

"It's Hacker!" Matt exclaimed. "He's coming straight at me!"

* * *

"What are we going to do?" Digit asked, as the Wreaker suddenly changed course and surged to their location, laser cannon turning to point at them.

"Digit, get out of here!" Matt yelled, getting an idea. "Find everybody else!"

"What?" Digit asked. "And leave you here?"

"Yes, I'm going to distract Hacker and buy you time!" Matt said. "Now go!"

Digit hesitated, but then turned, taking to the air and flew off.

Matt lifted his SKWAK again. "Lara, can you get me a portal?" he asked.

"I think so." Lara said, and conversed with Motherboard for a moment. "Yes, but nothing too fancy."

"Shouldn't need anything like that." Matt said, watching the Wreaker come closer, almost over top of him now. "I just need a portal leading from here to some spot some distance from where Hacker is now, here in the Real World."

"Motherboard says we can do that." Lara said. "But why? What good will that do?"

"I'm going to lure Hacker away from causing more harm." Matt said. "Now open that portal!"

Lara nodded, and started working with the controls. The Wreaker came to hover over Matt, pointing it's laser cannon straight down at him, gearing up to fire. Matt readied to flee just in case the portal wasn't ready in time. But it was. A pink swirl flashed next to him, and before the portal was even open fully, Matt dove into it. An instant later, the cannon fired, blasting into the spot Matt had been a moment earlier.

The ride was quick for Matt, and he popped out the exit portal and landed on another sidewalk on another street within the city. As the portal closed, he looked around, getting his bearings. Then, he saw several blocks away, the dark shape of the Wreaker. It hovered there for a moment, then suddenly adjusted it's course again, taking it towards Matt's new location. Matt grinned. It was working.

"Okay, now again." Matt said into the SKWAK. "Further this time. Let's see how far from the city we can lure Hacker..."


	8. These Small Hours

Inez's parents freak out, but Jackie's parents freak out even more, Matt still can't live getting turned into a mouse in "Mishap" down, and the Real World military gets involved... ;)

8.

These Small Hours

There was panic and confusion in the Real World. Word of Hacker's presence spread like wildfire, and soon the whole world was on the alert. Not knowing who Hacker was, many were thinking the Grim Wreaker was the first of a whole armada of alien warships from another planet, sent to destroy Earth.

All of the governments, America particularly, had refused to believe this until they had sufficient evidence. Now they had some. The encounter with the wing of fighter jets that had intercepted the Grim Wreaker and were nearly wiped out, and the attack on Inez and Lara's apartments.

Seeing the cybercraft as a true threat now, the President ordered all affected areas to be evacuated of it's civilians and move the troops in, armed with everything short of nuclear weapons, to try and find a way to bring the Grim Wreaker down.

And no one was hesitating to meet that request. Except for a certain, secret, fraction of the US Army, which had a different plan of action...

* * *

Jackie paced her bedroom, agitated. Usually she paced when she was thinking, trying to come up with an idea to whatever problem she faced. Not this time though. This time she had just started pacing, so she guessed she was pacing for the sake of pacing. That, and she was terribly nervous.

Chaos was currently reigning in the streets. She knew why. Hacker. She knew the Wreaker had finally arrived at the city, and she could only imagine the terror that was causing. Rumors were running wild, but all that she heard of them were nowhere close to the truth. A small upside, everything considered.

Admittedly, not a very good one, but an upside nonetheless.

She worried for her friends. She wanted to go against their agreement, and rally them all together, just so she could be sure that they were all safe, and keep an eye on them all. But she knew she couldn't. Staying separated like this slowed down Hacker's attempts at revenge, and gave them all more time to find a solution.

Still, she felt like there was something more she could do other than sit here and await a better plan, or worse, Hacker's arrival to get his revenge on her. But not only did she feel bound by her agreement with her friends, her parents wouldn't let her leave the house. They knew full well of the threat Hacker presented, even though they didn't know who he was, where he came from, or why he was here. Only Jackie knew all of that.

But she felt extremely tempted to change that. To explain to her parents the situation. It's what she always did when she had a problem she could solve on her own, hoping they would have a solution. However, Jackie's main fear in that choice was that she wouldn't like her parents' solution to the problem, which would be panic, and go to desperate measures to find a way to keep their favorite (and only) daughter safe.

Which could only make things worse.

Jackie continued pacing, realizing she was getting nowhere with this. What she needed to do was make a decision, and quickly, and act upon it. She was actually a little surprised at herself; she was normally very quick to make a decision. That is, unless, she had a reason to not make any of the choices presented to her.

Which presented a problem.

A sudden knocking came at her door, interrupting Jackie's train of thought. "Jackie?" a voice asked from the other side of the door. It was her father. "Come down to the living room for a moment! You're going to want to see this."

And things are probably about to get worse.

Jackie obeyed, however, and came to the living room as requested. Her father was standing at the doorway, waiting for her, and her mother was sitting on the couch, staring at the TV anxiously. On the TV was the president.

"It has been confirmed," he was saying, "that the unknown craft is not here on peaceful intentions. It has attacked everyone of the military's attempts to be peaceful, and attacked a city as well. We have exclusive footage, in fact, of this attack on the city."

The president's face vanished long enough to show the Grim Wreaker, hovering above a rapidly emptying city street, firing upon an apartment building. Jackie recognized it immediately as Inez and Lara's apartment building, and gasped. Her gasp went unnoticed by her parents.

"There have been casualties from these attacks." the president went on, his face returning to the screen. "But while the exact numbers of these casualties are unknown at present, I have been assured that they are quite low. And upon seeing that all previous attempts to stop this unknown craft have failed, we are going to work to keep that casualty count where it is. As of this moment, everyone living in the affected cities and the areas around them are hereby asked to evacuate their homes, and move to a safe location, as quickly as possible. Military officials will be arriving to help conduct the evacuation as quickly, and as safely, as possible. We request that you follow through with this request, and try not to resist. It could save your life. Here are a list of the affected areas to be evacuated, and the locations they are to, in turn, evacuate to."

The president's face vanished again, and was replaced by a long list of areas that the Wreaker was currently in, has been, and surrounding both of those areas. The name of the city Jackie and her friends lived in was at the very top.

"The military are now working to bring in bigger guns to take this threat out, and we will stop at nothing to make sure this unknown threat is removed." the president continued, his face still hidden behind the list. "In the meantime, we are doing everything we can to guarantee your safety, and we ask you again, to not panic. Thank you, that is all."

Jackie's mother shut off the TV, standing. "Well, you heard the president." she said, starting to gather what they would need. "We're getting out of here."

"About time." Jackie's father agreed. "We probably should have left long ago."

"W-wait!" Jackie stuttered. "We can't just leave, can we?" she asked, thinking of her agreement with her friends to stay at home.

"Jackie, it's too dangerous to stay here!" Jackie's mother said. "You saw what that thing was doing! Who's to say we aren't next?"

"Yes, who's to say?" Jackie repeated to herself, realizing there could be more truth to that statement than they all knew.

"This thing is ruthless." Jackie's father said, agreeing with his wife. "It's already proven it's willing to kill without reason, and too many lives have been lost already, it seems."

"Oh, I certainly hope not." Jackie muttered, thinking of Lara and Inez.

"We can't stay here, not if we wish to survive." Jackie's mother concluded. "That's final. Now go get some clothes for yourself, Jackie."

"Can I at least call a friend?" Jackie asked, thinking of getting on her SKWAK and calling her friends to inform them of the situation.

"No time." Jackie's father said, going into the kitchen to grab some food. "Now hurry, there can't be much..."

The doorbell suddenly, and unexpectedly, rang. Jackie's mother, who's nerves were at edge, yelped in surprise. Jackie, being the closest, answered the door. To her surprise, there stood three military officers, a stern young woman standing in the middle looking to be the leader.

It was she who spoke. "Jackie Monroe?" she asked.

"Yes..." Jackie said, hesitantly.

"I'm Major Samantha Hardson." the lady said. "I have orders to collect you and your parents and take them to a secure location."

Jackie blinked in surprise, as her parents came to the door to hear better. "Why us?" Jackie asked. "What's this about?"

"That is none of your concern at the moment." Major Hardson replied. "Questions will be saved for later. Now please follow me."

"Can't we get a few things first?" Jackie's mother asked.

"Everything you need will be provided for you." the major said. "Now please follow me."

The three family members looked at one another.

"What if we don't want to?" Jackie's father asked.

"It wasn't a request, Mr. Monroe, it was an order." Major Hardson said sternly. "We have orders to remove you from your house with force, if need be."

"Whatever for?" Jackie's mother asked. "What do we have that you want?"

"The answer is standing right in front of you." Major Hardson said.

And she motioned to a very stunned Jackie...

* * *

"...and I guess that's pretty much it." Inez concluded an hours or so later with a shrug. "Now you know of the past two years worth of adventures I've had in Cyberspace."

Her parents stared at her with dumbfounded looks, not saying a word.

"Do you understand?" Inez asked hesitantly. "Any questions? At all?"

Her parents numbly shook their heads.

"Any thoughts you're dying to say?" Inez asked.

Her parents just stared at her, at a loss for words.

"At least tell me you aren't going to freak out and make things worse." Inez pleaded, worried.

"Freak out?" Inez's mother finally said. "I don't think freak out can quite cover it!"

"This isn't a good time to do that, though!" Inez said. "Not with Hacker poised to start a war in the Real World!"

"An enemy you've risked your own life combating and have failed to tell us until now!" Inez's father pointed out, looking hurt that his daughter had kept something this momentous secret for so long.

"I wasn't sure how you'd react, or if you'd even believe me!" Inez said. "And, remember the part I told you when I went to a parallel universe, where things went totally..."

"Inez, according to you, you've had more weird things happen to you than you would in a sci-fi show!" Inez's mother exclaimed.

"Well, actually, I think Matt getting turned into a mouse that one time takes the cake..." Inez muttered to herself.

"See, you talk about it like it's no big deal!" Inez's father said. "But it is! Inez, how do you think we feel about all of this? You're telling us that you've nearly _died _helping a world we've never even heard of until now! How do you think we'd react to that? That we'd just wave you on and say 'have fun getting yourself killed?' No! Inez, we're you're parents! We're supposed to keep you from doing that kind of thing!"

"Yet another reason why I never told you!" Inez said. "I didn't want you guys to ban me from Cyberspace! I have friends here, and they need my help! And by golly, I'm going to give it to them, regardless of what you say! I _know _you're trying to watch out for me, but I've been doing this for long enough I don't need that! I can handle myself here, and I've got people looking out for me! And the sooner you realize that, the better!"

"Well, I can't, Inez!" Inez's mother said. "I fail to see how you can handle yourself in these so-called missions! We were nearly blasted into oblivion today!"

"And it was because of me that we escaped, alive!" Inez pointed out.

"And it was because that this Hacker fellow is even _in _our world!" Inez's father suddenly roared.

Silence fell. Inez's father instantly looked apologetic for his outburst.

"I'm sorry." he said quickly. "I'm just...stressed...over all of this and wasn't thinking."

"It's okay." Inez assured him. "Because you're right. It is my fault, as well as the fault of my friends, that Hacker's in the Real World now." she paused, then added, "But I was hoping you'd both be more understanding."

Another moment of silence fell, filled with Inez and her parents shifting awkwardly. They were interrupted when the garden door opened, and Lara poked her head inside.

"Inez!" Lara said. "We could have a problem here."

* * *

Matt exited the portal, landing with a thump on the top of a grassy hill. Looking around, he saw he was in a small public park in the suburbs on the outskirts of the city. As the portal closed, Matt looked around for the Grim Wreaker. He saw it several blocks away, just sitting there. It seemed to be in no hurry to chase it's prey.

Matt was worried Hacker was finally starting to tire of this game of chase.

"Lara, hold off on the next portal for a moment." Matt said into his SKWAK. "Hacker's is pausing in the chase for a moment. Dunno why."

"Very well, Matt." Motherboard replied instead of Lara. "Please do not hesitate to ask for another portal."

Matt was surprised at Motherboard's appearance. "Mother B, where's Lara?" he asked.

"I sent her on another task." Motherboard replied. "She will return in a moment. In the meantime, I will assist in this attempt to lure Hacker away from the city. Is he still continuing the chase?"

"Not yet." Matt said, watching the oddly silent and still Wreaker. "But Hacker hasn't broken off yet, either. How's Digit doing gathering everybody up?"

"That is part of what I sent Lara to take care of." Motherboard said. "However, I believe you have more things to worry about where you are."

Matt had to agree. Hacker may have been allowing himself to be lured away from the city, blinded by his want for revenge, but his marksmanship was getting better each time. It was getting harder and harder for Matt to escape in time. Until now. Whatever Hacker was doing, it was very uncharacteristic.

"Matt," Motherboard began suddenly, "I have been monitoring the immediate area around you for the past several jumps now. Very few people have been around each time we open a portal."

"That's because they've all fled." Matt said. "And that's a good thing, because it means there won't be anyone around to see this little game of cat and mouse me and Hacker are doing."

"I know." Motherboard said. "Which is why I bring it up. There is an Earthling craft of unfamiliar configuration coming your way."

"What?" Matt asked, alarmed, and looking around. "Which way?"

"West." Motherboard replied calmly.

Matt turned to look, and saw a black truck coming his way. It reminded him of the ice cream trucks he had seen spies use to spy on people in the movies.

"Should we risk letting them see a portal, if Hacker attacks?" Motherboard inquired, trusting Matt's opinion of the matter as this was unfamiliar territory for her, and this whole scheme was of Matt's creation.

Matt glanced over at the hovering Wreaker. It still hadn't move. "Hacker's in no hurry to attack at the moment." he said. "No, we won't. Besides, it might just drive by."

But it didn't. It went straight to Matt, going off the road to pull up right by them. Matt quickly hid his SKWAK as he watched four soldiers in black attire and weapons climb out of the back of the van. They quickly surrounded Matt, their weapons lowered, but at the ready. Matt gulped.

Then the passenger side door opened, and a lady in uniform exited the vehicle.

"I'm presuming you're Matt." she said, approaching the encirclement.

"Yes...but how do you know that?" Matt asked, puzzled.

"I know a fair deal about you, Matt." the lady said.

Matt gave her a funny look. "Who are you?" he asked.

"I am Major Samantha Hardson." the lady replied. "Of the United States Army."

"I gathered that much." Matt said, glancing back at the Wreaker.

Hardson noticed. "How much do you know about that craft?" she asked.

"Er..." Matt said, hesitating to reply. "Who wants to know?"

"A great many people, Matt." the major replied. "But we're starting with me and my superiors."

"Who are..." Matt prompted.

"That's classified." Hardson said. "As is the fraction of the army I work for, and a great deal on you."

"Really?" Matt said, alarmed. "That probably isn't a good thing."

"It won't be if you cooperate." Hardson said, folding her arms. "You're going to come with me."

"What if I don't want to?" Matt asked, not liking this one bit.

"Then they will fire." Hardson said, and the soldiers raised their weapons. "Don't worry, they won't kill you. No, we need you alive. But we will use force if need be."

Matt surveyed his situation once more, glanced back at the Wreaker, and realized there was no escaping this.

"I guess I have no choice then." Matt said, pocketing his SKWAK pad, and raising his hands over his head...


	9. Secrets Untold

Very lengthy chapter that covers alot. Inez and Lara find they have a few problems, Hacker chats with his mysterious prisoner, and Matt and Jackie are interrogated. Kind of. Anyway, enjoy. :)

9.

Secrets Untold

"Inez! We could have a problem here."

Inez turned to look at Lara. "What kind of problem?" she asked. "It's not Hacker related, is it?"

"Technically no, but I need you input!" Lara said, and motioned Inez to follow her into the other room.

Inez hesitated for a moment, then turned to her parents. "Um, wait here." she requested, then quickly followed Lara to Motherboard's control panel.

"Now, what's the problem?" Inez asked.

"We've made contact with Alex and Peter." Lara explained. "The program Digit's SKWAK pad is transmitting has been received by them."

"That's good then!" Inez said, pleased.

"But only to a certain extent." Lara said. "Alex is currently riding in the back seat of his parent's car, going as far from Hacker as they can go. We can't open a portal for him without his parents seeing. In fact, we can't even talk to him. We have to sign everything out to each other with a video feed."

"Oh." Inez said. "That isn't too good."

"It gets worse." Lara continued. "Peter's in an even worse jam. His parents caught him talking to me with his SKWAK. Now they have the SKWAK, and last I heard, were trying to get answers out of him."

"Dang it!" Inez said, slamming her fist down on the control panel. "We're probably going to have to pull his parents into Cyberspace too. They're just aren't going to conveniently forget about the SKWAK."

"I know." Lara said. "But at least Matt's attempts to lure Hacker away have been working." she paused, then added, "I'm not sure how much longer he can keep it up, though."

"He is not." Motherboard suddenly announced from above them. "I was conversing with Matt over the matter. First, Hacker has made no move to continue the chase."

"That's both a good thing and a bad thing." Inez noted.

"Second, an Earth vehicle approached him, and its occupants have taken him into custody." Motherboard continued.

"Say what?" Inez asked, surprised. "By who?"

"I managed to overhear some of the conversation." Motherboard said. "The leader of the group claimed to be Major Samantha Hardson for the United States Army."

"The _military_?" Lara asked. "What do they want in this?"

"They're probably frightened, and are trying to find answers." Inez reasoned. "But why Matt? Do they know about Cyberspace, and Matt's relation to it?"

"That would not be a good thing." Motherboard said. "Particularly if their information on Cyberspace is limited. They could get the wrong impression of it."

"Like deciding it's a threat." Lara said. "And if they know Hacker's from Cyberspace, that's a pretty safe bet."

"Great." Inez said. "Now what could go wrong?"

A beeping noise suddenly rang out.

"Inez, I think you just jinxed us." Lara remarked, as she went to attend to the beeping. "It's Digit, he's calling us."

A few moments later, the cybird appeared on Motherboard's screen.

"Digit, what's up?" Inez asked.

"Nothing good." Digit admitted. "I've found Jackie's place."

"And?" Lara prompted.

"It's empty!" Digit said. "Nobody's there! All the lights are off, the door's locked, and there's this funny note nailed to the door."

Lara and Inez exchanged glances. "What note?" Inez asked.

"I dunno, I didn't really read it, but it basically said the house was closed by order of the Union Sates Army." Digit replied.

Inez sighed. "United States Army, Didge." she corrected. "It's a fraction of military in the Real World."

"Which means?" Digit prompted.

"It means that they've got Jackie too." Lara said gravely.

"Too?" Digit repeated. "Wait, what do you mean they've got Jackie too? Who else they've got?"

"Matt." Inez replied. "They've taken him into custody, and moved him. Where, we don't know."

"Actually, we do." Motherboard suddenly interrupted, her face appearing in a small box in one corner of the screen.

"We do?" Lara and Inez chorused together in surprise.

"Yes." Motherboard said. "Matt's SKWAK pad never ended the transmission. It is still sending a signal, which means it is still active and relaying information. I can trace that signal. Currently, he is en route to a location well beyond the boundaries of the city you all live in."

"In which direction?" Inez asked.

"Southwest." Motherboard replied. "The immediate area seems to be empty."

"That's because there's nothing out there but a freeway that connects our city and the next nearest." Lara remarked.

"Yes, but that freeway travels straight _south_." Inez said, realizing this. "They're heading south_west_. They're _off _the main road."

"So where are they heading?" Lara asked. "There's nothing out there."

"Or so we think." Inez corrected.

* * *

"You're annoying when you're angry, you know that Hacker?" the prisoner asked from within the cage, as Hacker peered in at him. "But at least I know _why _you're angry."

"Of course you'd know!" Hacker exclaimed. "You helped them, didn't you?"

"How could I?" the prisoner asked innocently. "I'm in a cage."

"Don't lie to me." Hacker said.

"I'm not." the prisoner insisted. "You've just lost it."

"Well, then, tell me this, smartypants!" Hacker snarled. "If you're not lying, then how do you know why I'm so angry?"

"There's a window, you dolt." the prisoner replied, pointing at the window. "I can see everything through it. I know you've attacked Inez and Lara's home, only to find that they escaped, and you've been trying to shoot Matt for the past half hour, to no avail. And now he's gone too. Your plan's not working!"

"Yes it is!" Hacker insisted. "It's the best plan I have ever come up with!"

"What, do you rate your plans by how deadly they are?" the prisoner asked, knowing this plan was at least the deadliest.

Hacker ignored the remark. "You know, it was because of you I was even able to pull this plan off." he said, idly walking over to the window.

"Against my will." the prisoner muttered.

"It was you that provided me with the information I needed to find that hidden data core in Cyantis."

"Against my will."

"It was you that allowed me to find the plans to the Cyantian portal generator, as well."

"Also against my will."

"You've been a great help to me."

"Only against my will."

"But there is one thing that you know that you _haven't _told me." Hacker said, suddenly racing back the cage. "The one thing that will guarantee me victory!"

"And that's the one thing you will _never _get, Hacker." the prisoner insisted.

Hacker fumed for a moment. "Fine." the cyborg finally said, turning to leave. "I'm sure you won't mind if I finish off a few of your friends then."

Hacker laughed as he saw the prisoner's startled expression, and left, shutting the door behind him with a slam.

* * *

Matt and Jackie found themselves together in a small cell in the underground facility they had been taken to. Sitting on either sides of a table, they looked at one another.

"You know what this is about?" Jackie asked, looking bored.

Matt shook his head. "But I wouldn't worry too much about it." he said. He glanced briefly at the one security camera in the room, turned so that the camera could not see his face, and mouthed out the words _SKWAK pad on; Cyberspace is listening_ to Jackie.

Jackie did not react. She simply nodded.

At this moment, the door opened, and Major Hardson entered with a pair of guards.

"Are we comfortable?" she asked.

"No." Matt and Jackie replied together.

"Then answer my questions, and I'll arrange for something more comfortable." Hardson said, and stepped up to the table setting a large file down on top of it. "I presume you know why you're here by now, yes?"

"No." Matt said, although he had a pretty good hunch.

"Well, I'll tell you why." Hardson said, opening the file. "It goes back to two years ago. Just an ordinary day, it seemed, until some special, classified equipment we have monitored an energy surge like we had never seen before. It last for only a few seconds, then was gone. About five minutes later, it appeared again, but again vanished a few seconds later. No one could explain what it was, or what caused it."

"Maybe it was a freak of nature." Jackie suggested.

"That was our first thought, but it was quickly ruled out when it was discovered this energy surge originated in the lobby of the local museum back in town." Hardson said, and watching the two kids for an reaction.

They gave none on the outside, but on the inside, they were panicking. Hardson was talking about the time Matt, Jackie, and Inez had been pulled into Cyberspace for the first time. The energy surge was probably in relation to the leaving and returning portals they had taken.

"At first, after a day or so passed, we thought it was merely a one time thing." Hardson continued. "But then it returned yet again. The same signature appearing for a few seconds, then disappearing for five minutes before appearing again for a few seconds, this time somewhere within the suburbs of town. Very curious now, my superiors gave orders to investigate further into these odd occurrences. At first we found out very little, but we began to record these events happening more and more frequently. Finally, we pinpointed one outside of town to a limited area, and went and investigated. Nothing was out there, however."

She paused, then turned to look at Matt. "Except for the farm _you _live on." she said. "After that, we started to monitor your whole family, until we saw that this strange energy surges occurred more often around you. We had yet to witness one of these events, but we monitored you very closely for about a year, young Matt."

"Whatever for?" Matt asked, pretending to sound puzzled. "I don't know anything about these energy signatures."

"We monitored you, anyway, and quickly began to determine you weren't the only one this happened around, when we found out that sometimes these energy surges happened at once in three different places." Hardson replied. "This lead us to start monitoring young Jackie and Inez as well. This continued for a very long while, not getting anywhere. Then we detected an energy signature that was different from the others in your bedroom, Matt." she pulled a picture from the file, and slid it over to Matt, for him to examine. "We were lucky enough to have a camera on hand when it happened, although you had your drapes closed, we couldn't get a good view of what was going on inside. Still, the picture says a lot, doesn't it?"

Matt looked at it, and paled against his will. It was a picture of his bedroom window with a bright glow of violet cast upon it. Matt instantly figure out what had happened. This was the time Matt from the future traveled back in time to warn them about the future.

"Spurred on," Hardson continued, "we continued our investigation. We didn't learn anything new, until a month or so ago. An energy signature appearing on our sensors, and you three, Matt, Jackie, and Inez, disappearing from the watchful eyes of our spies. Then, interestingly enough, another signature appearing not far from the first. Then, two appeared in the same locations. You three suddenly reappeared again after vanishing for a good five, ten minutes. And, there was another three that joined you. Lara, Peter, and Alex. Now we were recording energy signatures occurring around them as well."

Matt and Jackie glanced at each other for a moment, realizing this was just getting worse and worse.

"Your new friends, however, were a bit more careless, however." Hardson said, pulling out a new picture. "Because we caught a snapshot of this."

She slid it over to Jackie, who looked at it first. Once she had, she numbly handed it to Matt. It depicted Alex and Peter conversing with each other, Alex holding in one hand what was clearly a SKWAK pad. Hardson didn't stop there, however, and pulled out more pictures, all of depicting different people of the Cybersquad, and all of them getting a glimpse of a SKWAK pad.

"As you can see, that one pic clued us in on what we needed to look for." Hardson remarked idly.

Matt looked at her. "This doesn't prove anything." he said.

"It proves that all six of you are communicating with someone." Hardson said. "We were quick to determine those devices where communicators, using a curious, encrypted, frequency that we've been working on breaking."

Matt stood suddenly, alerting the guards, who both raised their weapons. Matt simply tossed the pictures back at Hardson. "It still doesn't prove we have any relation to these energy signatures, major." he insisted.

"But I haven't told you our best discovery." Hardson said, knowing this was all getting to Matt and Jackie. "We've been tracking the signals your devices give off. They've been known to vanish for periodic times, every time these mysterious signatures occur. We've determined that you all are going somewhere we can't track."

Now Jackie stood, alarmed at how close to the truth this was getting. "Prove it!" she said.

"Haven't I already?" Hardson asked, standing to approach Matt, the closer of the two. "And it only gets better. Just today, we detected a massive signature, and then this ship that out there attacking our country appeared on our monitors! Ever since then it's been chaos! Yet we've still been tracking the signatures, and they've been appearing all over the place. And in this chaos, we've gotten more proof." she grabbed the file and pulled another picture from it. "Care to tell me what this is?"

Matt took it and studied it. Jackie quickly came over so she could see as well, and nearly gasped when she what was on the photo.

It was Digit, caught in the middle of an intersection.

"And better yet." Hardson said, pulling out a tape recorder. "We managed to listen to one of your conversations with your devices. I believe you call them, SKWAK pads, correct?"

Matt and Jackie simply stared at her, dumbfounded.

Hardson placed a tape within the device, and prepared it to play. "This was taken during one of the attacks, by the way." she explained. "I think you'll be quick to figure out which."

The tape started to play. At first there was silence, then a sudden burst of static, followed by a cacophony of background noise.

"_Inez?" _a voice spoke, which Matt recognized as Motherboard's.

"_Mother B!" _came Inez's reply._ "It's Hacker! He's attacking and we need..." _a loud roar of noise suddenly interrupted the message before it continued. _"...we need a portal to escape!"_

"_One moment, I must pinpoint your signal." _Motherboard was heard replying softly.

"_They're coming!" _a voice in the background said. It was Lara's.

It was followed by Inez's voice. _"Hold on one more moment, everybody! We're almost out of here, I promise!" _

Another bang rang out, followed by swirling noise. Static began to filter through the recording, but one could still make out what was going on.

"_What is..."_ a voice said, one Matt couldn't identify.

Then four more bangs rang out and things started to happen all at once, so it was hard to make things out.

"_No!"_

"_Get in there!"_

"_No! They were right there when Hacker fired! They could...they can't be...aren't they..."_

"_Get in the portal Lara! Hacker's tracking the portal!"_

A couple more bangs rang out, added in by other noises before the recording suddenly ended in a burst of static. Hardson stopped the tape there.

"I'm presuming that Hacker is the one in the ship that's attacking." she said. "And that a portal is what has been causing the energy surges."

Matt and Jackie said nothing.

"You will tell me what I want to know." Hardson said, motioning the guards, who came up to join her, rasing their weapons. "It's clear you know more about this Hacker than anyone else, and I want to know why, and how we can stop him."

Matt and Jackie still said nothing, they just looked at one another hesitantly.

"Tell me, or I will be forced to use force." Hardson said, motioning to the two guards.

Finally, Matt had enough.

"You know, you don't give us much choice!" he grumbled, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out his SKWAK pad.

"Matt, don't!" Jackie said.

Matt pulled out the SKWAK away, holding it up to speak into it. "Lara," he said, "I presume you've been listening?"

"Yes." came Lara's reply. "We heard the whole thing."

"Then let's give them what they want." Matt said.

Jackie gave Matt a surprised look.

"Um," Lara began hesitantly. "You sure we want to do that?"

"They aren't giving us a choice." Matt said through clenched teeth. "So _Yes, _I'm sure. Now do it. Open it up right behind them."

"Open what?" Hardson asked, confused.

But then a portal opened up right behind her and the guards, sucking them all up. Matt grabbed the tape recorder, and hurled it at the security camera, disabling it, before he and Jackie hopped into the portal after Hardson and the guards.

They arrived at Control Central in time for the three to begin to recover from the wild ride. In awe, the three militants looked around.

"Ask and ye shall receive." Matt said, as the portal closed, and he and Jackie were joined by Inez and Lara.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Matt." Inez remarked, folding her arms.

Hardson, recovering from the shock, suddenly barked out a command, and she and the guards pulled out their weapons.

"Where are we?" she demanded.

"I won't tell you that while you're threatening me with a gun." Matt replied cooly.

Hardson gave him a long look, then, feeling threatened, pulled the trigger on her weapon. Nothing happened. The guards faced a similar problem.

"Your weapons will not fire." Motherboard suddenly announced. "They were disabled on your way here."

Stunned by this revelation, the major dropped her weapon and placed her hands over her head. The guards followed their superior's example.

"That's better." Matt remarked with a smirk.


	10. A Time For War

More people learn about Cyberspace, Hacker attacks Alex, and something happens to Digit. Two-thirds talk and one third action.

10.

A Time for Chaos

Matt, Jackie, Inez, and Lara watched through the transparent greenhouse door at the group within. Inez's parents, which still seemed uncertain about the whole situation, where now joined by Major Hardson and the two guards. As they watched, Hardson took control of the situation, quickly determined there was no escaping the greenhouse, then went about interrogating Inez's parents, finding out what they knew about this situation, seeing that all Hardson knew was that she had just been pulled here by a portal and held captive by a group of kids.

Inez shook her head as she watched all of this. "I hope you're know what you're doing Matt." she said. "If this backfires..."

"I know what the risks are." Matt said. "I'm not too thrilled by this choice either. But the major wasn't giving us much choice, and she _could _be able to help us in stopping Hacker and getting him back into Cyberspace where he belongs."

"But what about all that stuff about prematurely revealing the existence of Cyberspace to the Real World being a really, really, bad idea?" Lara asked, remembering the stories Matt and Inez had told her about their adventure in a parallel universe.

"I'm hoping we can talk Hardson into keeping it a secret." Matt said. "You know, classify the whole situation."

"Classify something as big as this?" Jackie asked, unbelieving. "Just...filing it away and pretend it never existed?"

"Sure, the government probably does it all the time." Matt said with a shrug. "Besides, judging from what I've heard about this fraction of the army the major is in, they deal with a lot of secret stuff."

"Like the fact that they've been monitoring the portals we use to go to and from Cyberspace since the very beginning." Inez reasoned. "I suppose if they could keep that secret for so long, this shouldn't be too much harder."

"But first we have to let her calm down." Matt continued. "She looked like she was ready to fight still when we put her in there, and those guards would have followed her example, seeing she's their superior officer."

Inez nodded, was silent for a moment, then shook her head again. "What a mess we've gotten into." she muttered. "Hacker on a rampage in the Real World, lives being lost, our parents learning about Cyberspace for the first time, and now the US Army's getting involved. What could possibly happen next?"

Suddenly, an alarm went off.

"Inez, I think you jinxed us. Again." Lara remarked, rushing over to Motherboard's control panel, looking for the source of the alarm.

"Mother B, what's going on?" Jackie asked, as the others followed Lara.

"It is Alex." Motherboard replied, her face appearing on the screen. "His position has not changed; he is still riding in an automobile with his parents. However, I have been monitoring his position by tracing his SKWAK pad, and have detected something of concern. An odd energy signature that does not match anything on the Real World, and is rapidly approaching Alex's position."

The four friends looked at one another.

"Hacker." Jackie surmised.

* * *

Alex quietly rode in the backseat of his parent's car, watching his parents nervously. They did not look behind them to see what Alex was up to; they were too busy paying attention to the rode, and focusing on getting as far away as they could, as the government had requested. This was good, because then they wouldn't see the SKWAK pad Alex had on, lying in his lap.

He didn't dare talk into it, knowing that his parents would overhear, so Alex settled with signing out messages to his friend in Cyberspace via a video link. So far, this was satisfactory enough. For reasons unknown, though, he had not been in contact with anybody in Cyberspace for some time. He presumed that something had come up, and was not surprised. Hacker's presence in the Real World no doubt caused a real uproar in Cyberspace, in addition to the Real World.

So, believing he was safe for the moment, he patiently awaited contact again, quietly enjoying the ride, despite the circumstances it had come about.

He was proven wrong.

He became aware of a shadow falling over the car as it drove along, and looked out the window to see what caused it. He instantly panicked when he saw the Grim Wreaker hanging over the car, readying it's laser cannon.

"Drive faster!" he suddenly exclaimed to his father, who was driving. "Now!"

His dad, being on edge as he was, didn't stop to question the command, and stomped down on the gas pedal. The car shot forward, and just in time, for a laser blast struck the ground behind them. Had the car not accelerated when it did, it would've been shot.

"What the..." Alex's dad exclaimed, surprised as the car shook from the blast's shockwave. He saw the Wreaker hanging in his rear view mirror, and quickly started going as fast as he could, taking evasive action.

Hacker fired again, hitting to one side of the speeding car, and nearly hitting a passing car. At this point, all the other cars on the highway, seeing that they were in danger, quickly moved aside, trying to avoid the Wreaker's cannon and the speeding car the cybercraft was chasing.

Another blast from the laser cannon shook the car as it nearly hit, nearl tipping the little car over. It's occupants all screamed. Alex saw his SKWAK pad slide off his lap, and quickly grabbed it.

"Alex to Mother B!" he exclaimed into his pad. "HELP!"

Another blast struck directly behind the car, close enough this time, that the force of the blast knocked out the car's back window. It's three occupants screamed again.

"Why is it shooting at us?" Alex's mother screamed.

"I'll explain later, keep driving!" Alex exclaimed, hoping that he would get a reply on his SKWAK soon.

He did. "Alex, this is Inez..." Inez's calm voice was suddenly broadcasted over the SKWAK.

"HELP!" Alex shouted again into the SKWAK, interrupting Inez.

"We're working on it!" Inez exclaimed back. "We're opening a portal, head for it!"

"Dad, when you see a pink light, drive straight for it, no questions asked!" Alex quickly told his father.

"Pink light?" his dad asked, puzzled. "What..."

But then another laser blast struck the ground near the car, close enough that it blew out the car's two side windows. Alex's mother screeched as the glass sprayed around her.

"Just do it!" Alex said.

They didn't have to wait long. Soon a portal flared into existence straight ahead of the speeding car.

"There!" Alex exclaimed, pointing. "Head for that!"

"But..." his dad began to object.

"DO IT!" Alex exclaimed.

The car rocked again as the Wreaker fired another laser blast, getting closer and more deadly with each passing moment. This last blast caused one of the car's tires to blow, but the car surged on at it's breakneck speed. Finally, the entire car shot into the portal, forcing the Wreaker to break off it's attack.

The next thing Alex knew, the car had merged a foot off the ground in Control Central's hanger bay. Due to it's great momentum, the car sailed forward for a few feet, then it's wheels hit the ground with a earthshattering thud and a piercing squeal as the tire rim of the burst tire ground against the tile floor.

The moment Alex was sure the car was fully on the ground again, he shouted, "BRAKES!"

But his dad didn't need prompting this time, who slammed both feet on the brakes. The car ground to a screeching halt, stopping just inches from the nose of the two-seater cybercoop. Silence suddenly fell as the shocked occupants of the car tried to calm themselves down. The pitter-patter of footsteps rang out, and Alex turned to see Matt and Jackie rush into the hanger bay, looking ready to help.

Meanwhile, his parents were looking around in awe.

"Where are we?" Alex's mother asked.

"Cyberspace, would you believe it?" Alex replied, relieved for the moment that he had escaped alive.

* * *

"Son, just tell us what this device is, who you were talking to, and where you got it." Peter's father said, holding up the SKWAK pad he had caught his son using. "It's not that hard."

"Trust me, dad." Peter said flatly, leaning against the kitchen table they sat around. "It is."

"Peter, please cooperate." his mother said. "We need to get out of here, the governments issued an evacuation. That alien ship could attack here at any moment!"

"Actually it won't, I know that much." Peter said. "At least, that's if they haven't conveniently forgotten to tell me something."

"And how would you know all that?" Peter's father asked, looking frustrated at his son's stubbornness.

"It's complicated." Peter said. "And even if I could tell you, I wouldn't, because _you wouldn't believe me!_"

"Try us, Peter." his mother begged. "We're here to listen to you, no matter what!"

"I _can't_." Peter said. "I promised I wouldn't tell."

"So there is something you haven't told us." Peter's father surmised.

"Yeees." Peter admitted with reluctance. "But trust me, you're better off not knowing. If only you knew all the dangerous stuff I've...unwillingly...gotten into..."

"Like what?" Peter's mother asked, worried suddenly.

"Like life and death stuff." Peter admitted.

"Alright, that's it." Peter's dad said, throwing down the SKWAK. "I've had enough of this game. Peter, you had better tell us what's going on, _right now_, before I get _really _mad!"

"No!" Peter said. "And getting mad won't help any!"

"One..." Peter's dad started counting down.

"Really, it won't!" Peter said, but started to get leery about the wrath his father was threatening to unleash.

"Two..." Peter's dad continued.

"All right, all right!" Peter exclaimed, and hurriedly continued, explaining. "The device is called a SKWAK pad, a mix between a walkie-talkie and drawing board, I was talking to a friend, named Lara, you've met her before, and I got it in Cyberspace."

His parents gave him blank looks.

"Okay, I had you there for a moment." Peter's mother said, puzzled. "But I lost you at the last part."

"The SKWAK pad, I got it in Cyberspace." Peter repeated, annoyed. "That was one of dad's questions, right?"

"Right." Peter's dad said, frowning. "Cyberspace?"

"Uh-huh." Peter said.

"You're right, I don't believe it." his father said.

"Maxwell..." his mother said, frowning in disapproval of her husband's remark.

"Trust me, I wouldn't make this up." Peter said. "Not for any old reason, anyway."

Peter's father scratched his head. "Cyberspace." he repeated yet again, looking as if he was considering it.

"That's right."

"How could you get something like this from Cyberspace?"

"Oh, if only you knew."

"So, let me get this straight." Peter's mother said. "You got this...SKWAK pad...from Cyberspace, which you've actually been to?"

"Once or twice, yeah." Peter admitted with a shrug. "I'm a bit of a newcomer there, actually."

"How does any of this fit in with what's going on here?" his mother asked next.

"Well, you know that alien ship out there?" Peter said, pointing out the window, even though the Wreaker was no where in sight out it. "It's not alien. It's from Cyberspace. It's not supposed to be here, though, so it's causing quite an uproar in several places. But it's controlled by this really bad dude named Hacker."

"Hacker." his father repeated skeptically.

"I know, the name's stupid." Peter agreed. "But it's true. He's here to seek his revenge on a group of kids, including me, which have been going into Cyberspace periodically to stop Hacker's occasional attempt to take over."

His father stared at him.

"I know it's hard to believe, it's really something you have to see in order to believe." Peter explained.

"So where's your proof?" his father asked.

Peter opened his mouth to reply, but then suddenly caught sight of something outside the window behind his parents. There was Digit, standing there, waving, trying to get Peter's attention.

"Talk about timing." Peter remarked, and walked over to open the window, allowing Digit to fly. "Here's my proof." he said, as Digit hovered inside, and landed on the table. "This is Digit."

Digit looked at Peter's stunned parents, and bowed politely. "How do you do?" he asked.

The parents just stared at the cybird.

"How much have you told them?" Digit asked. "I heard about your situation here, so I figured you'd give in sooner or later."

"I did. I was just beginning, really." Peter said, coming to stand beside Digit. "You know, just covering the basics."

Peter's mother suddenly stood, and backed away from Digit. "What is it?" she asked, unsure about the newcomer.

"'It?'" Digit repeated, undignified.

"He's a cybird." Peter explained. "He lives in Cyberspace."

"So wait, there's actually life in Cyberspace?" Peter's father asked.

"Yeah." Digit replied for Peter.

"How?"

Peter thought for a moment. "I don't know." he admitted. "There just is. To be perfectly honest, it perplexes me as well."

"So how do you get to...Cyberspace?" Peter's mother asked, reaching out and poking Digit in the beak, just to confirm the cybird was real.

"By portal." Peter said.

"We can show you." Digit added.

Peter glanced at Digit. "You sure about that?" he asked.

"It's not safe here." Digit explained. "You're the only left who's _not_ in Cyberspace. Besides, we're hoping that by getting all of you in Cyberspace will lure Hacker back in Cyberspace, where we can deal with him better."

Peter glanced at his parents, who looked like they only partially understood this. "I'm not sure how they'll react to that." he stated, unsure.

"It seems to vary on the parent." Digit admitted. "Inez's parents freaked out, but they've been the only ones so faaarrr..."

Digit suddenly trailed off, then tipped over, unconscious. Peter's parents yelped and backed up.

"Digit?" Peter exclaimed, coming to the cybird's side. "Digit!" Seeing his SKWAK pad left on the table, Peter grabbed it and switched it on. "Hey, whomever I'm talking to! Something's wrong with Digit, we need a portal, now!"


	11. There's Always A Catch

11.

There's Always a Catch

Control Central was home of many specialized rooms, but the ones that were used the most was the control room, hanger bay, dining room, and various bedrooms, namely Digit's and Dr. Marbles. There were, however, many other rooms in the cybersite that were fortunately were not needed to be used so frequently.

Such as the medical bay, where the still unconscious Digit lay in bed. Separated by a wall of glass stood the Cybersquad, both the original and the backup squad. They silently watched the cybird, hoping everything would be alright. Inside with Digit, conducting scans, was Dr. Marbles, who had been contacted and requested to come help. Upon hearing about the situation, Marbles agreed, adding that his experiments with Dr. Archimedes regarding their problem with Hacker weren't working out anyway.

Now, Marbles finished his scans, studied the scanner for a moment, then walked out of the room, and joined the Cybersquad behind the wall of glass.

"Well? Please tell me this isn't somehow my fault." Peter prompted, feeling guilty that Digit passed out within his house.

"Of course not, Peter." Marbles said, lowering the scanner. "In fact, if anyone is to blame, it would be Motherboard and me."

"What?" Inez said, shocked. "Why?"

"It was us that decided to send Digit into the Real World." Marbles replied.

"So you're saying that it was because he was in the Real World that Digit's like this now?" Matt asked, gesturing to their cybird friend.

"Yes." Marbles said with a nod. "But, fortunately, now that he's back in Cyberspace, his condition is improving, and will continue to improve."

"So...what happened...exactly?" Alex asked.

"As you know, Cyberspace and the Real World are two entirely different dimensions." Marbles explained. "As it turns out however, the Real World environment is not ideal for a cyborg."

Lara frowned. "It can't support cyborg life?" she asked.

"Oh, it can support it, it's just very rough on the cyborg in questions." Marbles assured them. "Certain elements in the Real World react badly with materials from Cyberspace. Inanimate objects wouldn't being to show the effects of these reactions for years on end, though, which is why things such as SKWAK pads seem to remain unaffected, but animate objects, such a Digit, can pass out and their health decay due to prolonged exposure to the Real World environment."

"Which explains why Digit didn't start showing the effects right away." Matt reasoned.

"But why has Digit succumbed to these effects before Hacker, who's been in the Real World for longer?" Jackie asked.

"Probably because he's sitting in the middle of a cybercraft." Inez reasoned.

"That's what I'm thinking, yes." Marbles agreed. "Theoretically, the Grim Wreaker would enact like a shield, protecting it's inhabitants from the harmful elements in the Real World temporarily. But eventually, they will start showing the effects."

"Then it's simple." Peter said. "All we have to do it hole out here in Cyberspace, and wait for Hacker and his minions to start feeling the effects of their prolonged exposure to the Real World, and come back to Cyberspace to start feeling better, then we nab 'em."

"Speaking of which, why does coming back to Cyberspace reverse the effects?" Alex asked.

"There could be several explanations, but it could just be a simple matter of the cyborg in question getting a chance to eject the toxins of the Real World and repair the damage done while not having to worry about more Real World toxins getting in." Marbles theorized.

"So then Peter's right." Matt said. "All we need to do is wait for Hacker to figure this all out as well."

"Unfortunately, it might not be that simple, Matt." Marbles said. "The chase will simply go back to the way they always have, with Hacker constantly avoiding us. That is, until he's recovered from the effects of exposure to the Real World, and tries again to venture into Cyberspace." he paused, then added, "And, no matter what, there is the case of all the Real World inhabitants you've brought to Cyberspace mostly for their own safety. Something still needs to be done about them."

The Cybersquad glanced at one another, realizing that Marbles had a very good point.

"Why is there always a catch?" Jackie asked aloud.

* * *

"This is amazing." Alex's dad remarked, as he looked around and around in the greenhouse he and the other parents were locked in. "Simply amazing. A whole new world to explore."

"Scientist, hmm?" Major Hardson remarked, where she sat on a bench, picking her teeth.

"Part time, but yes." Alex's dad remarked, turning to look at her. "How did you know?"

"I've met your type." the major replied with a shrug.

"Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I think this is all downright terrifying." Inez's mother remarked. "I mean, think about it. What have our kids, _our kids_, been doing here? Risking their lives! They could've all died here, and we'd never know it!"

"Well, I dunno about that." Peter's mother remarked. "That Motherboard person, program, or whatever, seems to be quite understanding. I'm sure they've always been under her watchful eye at all times, and even if it did come to the worse, I'm sure she would've tried to make it up to us."

"Agreed." Alex's mother said.

"This is ridiculous, though." Peter's father said, pacing back and forth. "How can any of this even exist? It seems more like a fairy tale than real life."

Alex's father tapped a nearby wall, listening to it's metallic ring. "Seems real." he noted.

"You miss my point." Peter's father said. "Besides, why would my son risk his life over stuff that wasn't his problem? Or any of our problems, for that matter?"

"It's our problem now." Hardson said. "Hacker is attacking the our world now. And no matter what happened to cause that and why, we have to work together to stop him."

"I refuse." Peter's father said flatly. "You can't make me get involved."

"Maxwell, we aren't exactly in a position to dictate terms here." his wife objected.

"No, he's right." Inez's father said. "We can't be forced into this like this. We could die doing that! We even have proof of that!"

"That's right!" Inez's mother exclaimed. "Lara's foster parents were killed during all of this."

"And there are others who are missing from this group." Alex's mother remarked. "At least two sets of parents. So what happened to them?"

"Jackie's parents are in military custody still, and several feet underground." Hardson said. "They're safe. And unaware. They don't have a clue about Cyberspace yet, although I believe once this is all over, they will."

"What about the last kid, Matt?" Alex's father asked.

"His parents live on a farm." Inez's mother offered, trying to be helpful.

"I don't remember hearing about any farms being attacked by this Hacker character." Peter's mother remarked. "I guess they're still safe in the 'Real World', as these Cyberspace folk call it."

Peter's father shook his head. "This is utter nonsense." he said. "Whether this is real or not, I will not get involved in this."

"And maybe you won't." Hardson agreed, standing, and facing Peter's father. "But what if something bad happens to either our world or Cyberspace? Something that could've prevented? And it happened because you weren't there to help? Could you live with yourself knowing that?"

Peter's father didn't answer, and avoided eye contact.

"Are you saying that we take it upon ourselves to stop Hacker?" Inez's mother asked.

"No." Hardson said. "In fact, it would probably be wise if all of you stayed here and followed the orders of others. Because things could get ugly. No, I'm talking about the kids. So they're kids, the very last people you'd think to get involved in this. But look at them." she gestured out the greenhouse window into the control room where the Cybersquad was returning. "Some of them have been doing this kind of thing for over two years now, and they're still alive and kicking, and have accepted the challenges they face each and every time! They've proven that they can do this! So why should we stop them? Besides, they've got the most experience out of all of us! None of have you said it yet, but I know you're thinking of trying and stopping your children from continuing what they do here. But don't. Cyberspace may be a dimension apart from our world, but we're still interconnected. Whatever happens in Cyberspace will no doubt affect the Real World in due course. And it's those kids that have been keeping things under control. If they had done what you are all now suggesting and refused to help, Hacker would've taken over long ago, and who knows what could've happened since then? In fact, those kids could be the only ones who truly know what _will _happen we if just stand back and let Hacker gets what he wants. So don't. Let's fight back. Let's stop Hacker. For the good of both our worlds."

She held out her hand, holding it in the middle of the room, offering the chance for the others to agree. Surprisingly, it was Peter's father who slapped his hand on Hardson's first. Once that was done, Alex's parents quickly and jointly followed. Peter's mother hesitated a second longer, then joined in. The silent military guards, even though they technically had nothing to do with this, also joined in.

All eyes then fell on Inez's parents. They glanced at each other for a long moment, silently debating with each other. Finally, they stood, and added their hands to the mass of others. Hardson grinned.

"But you realize that Hacker being in our world presents a problem, right?" Inez's mother asked the major. "Possibly more than our kids can handle, right?"

"I do." Hardson replied. "And I think I have the means to help."

* * *

Hacker rubbed his head again. It had been throbbing a whole lot more than it should. At first he thought it was just a telltale sign that he needed a recharge. Then he thought it was frustration for the fact that all of his intended targets had vanished from sight and were no doubt in Cyberspace by now. Then he thought it was due to the fact that the Real World military had again tried to shoot down the Wreaker and failed. Hacker had made quick work of them with his laser cannon.

But whatever the case, his headache had continued to get worse, and now it seemed to be spreading. He didn't have a clue as to what could be causing it yet, but his paranoid side, the side of him that was getting more and more control over him with each passing day, said it was something to fear, and that the Earth brats were somehow at fault. They always where.

Setting the Wreaker's autopilot to just fly straight, it didn't matter where at the moment, Hacker leaned back in his chair and moaned. And just when he thought his problems couldn't get any worse, they did.

"Boss, boss!" Buzz exclaimed, running into the room. "Something's wrong with Delete!"

"Yeah, he's stupid, that's what's wrong with him!" Hacker cried out angrily. "Why do I care?"

"No, you don't understand, boss!" Buzz said, running up to Hacker and tugging on his hand. "We were headin' for the kitchen to get some donuts when Delete just moaned, and collapsed, and now he won't wake up!"

Hacker frowned, and finally relented, allowing Buzz to lead him to Delete. Sure enough, the robot lay where Buzz had left him, out cold. Hacker looked him over, and decided that Delete wasn't faking.

"Get me a scanner." he ordered Buzz.

Buzz nodded, and ran off to get it without debate. He was too worried for Delete to object. He returned fairly quickly with the device. Hacker snatched from him, and waved it over Delete for a few moments. Frowning at the readouts, he did it again. Then, oddly enough, he waved it over Buzz, then himself.

"Have you been feeling a bit of a headache?" Hacker asked.

"Um, yeah, I have boss." Buzz admitted, rubbing at his head. "Not too bad of a one though. Why?"

"Because I have been feeling one too, and it's safe guess that Delete did too." Hacker replied.

"Gee boss, do you think it's some kind of sickness?" Buzz asked.

Hacker shook his head. "No, worse, and I bet someone on this ship knows all about it." he remarked, and started to walk off. "Carry Delete to the medical bay, get a pain reliever, then report to the bridge and await further commands."

"Yes boss." Buzz said, and quite awkwardly picked up Delete and carried him down the hall.

Hacker, however, went for a certain room in the Wreaker, and did not stop until he had entered it and stood face to face with his caged prisoner.

"Yes Hacker?" the prisoner said, looking amused.

Hacker waved the scanner over his prisoner and glanced at the results. "All right, start talking." he demanded. "Why is it everyone but you on this ship is experiencing ill effects?"

"Hey, I guess exposure to the Real World does cause problems for cyborgs after all." the prisoner remarked, looking thoughtful.

"It does?" Hacker said. "Wait, you know about this?"

"I had a hunch." the prisoner said. "Never quite proved it. But as you know, I know more about this kind of thing than most."

"Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"You never asked."

Hacker fumed for a moment before continuing.

"How do I reverse it?" he asked.

"I dunno. I'd guess you'd start by going back into Cyberspace. Besides, I've been watching, it's not like you've got anything left to go after here."

"Oh no, I'm not leaving the Real World just yet."

"Suit yourself." the prisoner said, not looking like he'd care. "I'll just wait for you all to pass out then. Then maybe some real progress can be made in this situation we've all found ourselves in."


	12. Hacked

12.

Hacked

"The moment we've all been dreading." Matt remarked as he and the rest of the kids from the Real World gathered outside the doors to the greenhouse, where their parents resided within.

"Hey, at least you don't have to worry about discussing this with _your _parents." Inez pointed out, jabbing Matt in the ribs. "They're still safe in Cyberspace, and unaware of everything."

"Maybe for now." Matt said. "But eventually I'll have to tell them anyway."

"Matt's right." Jackie agreed. "It seems pointless to keep them out of the loop when all of your guys's parents have been told. Once this is all over, I'm going to have to tell my parents, too."

"Maybe we should've done this in the beginning." Lara remarked. "It would've been easier, and not quite a blow."

"That's easy for you to say." Peter remarked, annoyed. "You don't have parents, or even guardians, you have to explain what you've been doing in another dimension without their knowing!"

Lara inhaled sharply at this, closed her eyes, and bowed her head.

Peter was instantly apologetic. "Oh, Lara, I'm sorry." he apologized. "I wasn't thinking there, and of course, you know, I didn't mean it."

"It's okay." Lara said, pulling herself together again. "You're right."

"Still doesn't change the situation, though, does it?" Inez asked. "This discussion isn't going to be easy."

"I suppose it's because we've gotten used to trying and keeping it a secret." Alex reasoned with a shrug. "We're not used to telling the secret of Cyberspace to everybody."

"Not only that, but there's always the risk of people from the Real World knowing too much too soon and making a huge mess out of everything." Matt added, remembering the events he had witnessed in a parallel universe, and hoped the same fate wouldn't befall this universe.

"We all hope that won't happen, Matt." Inez assured him, thinking the same thing.

They were silent for a moment.

"Well, no point in prolonging the inevitable." Jackie said, and pressed the control to open the door.

It slid open, and they all stepped inside. The parents, Hardson, and the two military guards, all looked up to watch the line of kids filing into the room.

"Hi." Matt greeted sheepishly, waving. "We, uh, came to chat."

"Yeah, we've got something we want to say." Inez explained further.

"Well good." Inez's mother said, stepping over to her daughter. "Because we have something we all want to say too." she grabbed her daughter and pulled her into a hug. "We want you to know that we're behind you all the way, no matter what you do."

"Oh, well, um..." Inez stuttered, surprised.

"Really?" Matt said, also surprised.

"Um, not to sound ungrateful, or anything, but we weren't really expecting this kind of reaction." Jackie remarked.

"Yeah, why the sudden change of heart?" Peter asked.

"We realized what was at stake, son." Peter's father said, stepping over to his son and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"And that you're the only ones who really know what to do." Peter's mother added.

"See, we've all been doing some talking in here, while you're all out there saving the world and stuff." Alex's mother said. "We were a bit apprehensive at first, but Major Hardson here talked some sense into us, making us realize it would be foolish to stand in the way of what you all do."

"She did?" Matt exclaimed, turning to look at the major.

"There a problem with that?" Hardson asked.

"Um, no, it's just that I...well..." Matt began, surprised that the serious Hardson had been the one who convinced their parents of what they needed to do.

"I guess this makes out job easier." Lara remarked with a shrug.

"I still can't get over the fact it was that easy, though." Alex said, shaking his head, and looking at his parents. "I never thought you two would be so keen to agree. Don't you have at least _some _doubt, or at least ill feelings, against this place?"

"Are you kidding me?" Alex's dad remarked, still studying the room intensely. "This place is _fascinating_! I'd give an arm and a leg just to come here and study all of..._this!_" he motioned to his surroundings.

"Yes, and now that we've got this settled..." Hardson said, heading for the door, "...we've got business to attend to in the Real World."

"We do?" Inez asked, pulling out of the hug her parents had her in.

"Wait..._we_?" Matt repeated, still shocked that Hardson was suddenly on _their _side.

"In the Real World?" Lara asked.

"Yes, and we need to get there quickly." Hardson said, exiting the room. "Because I know of something that can help us stop Hacker."

* * *

As the Grim Wreaker continued on it's aimless course on auto-pilot, Hacker retreated to his lab, and sat down at a control panel. He was after answers to this mysterious effect prolonged exposure to the Real World had to cyborgs, and hopefully find a cure. And he had two ways to do that. The one most likely to get him the answers he wanted was the most impractical, because it would require him to start a long search that could take far too long.

So he restored to option number two.

Opening a seldom used drawer, Hacker pulled out what at first appeared to be a SKWAK pad. But it had been heavily modified, and looked to contain far more information than your typical SKWAK would carry. Laying it down on the control panel, Hacker plugged a cord into the pad's USB port, and awaited for the Wreaker's systems to register the pad's presence in the system.

Finally, it did, and Hacker went to open the files contained in the pad. Only it wasn't so simple. Hacker had to hack his way through the various security measures the pad contained. Fortunately, he had done it so many times, he had it down to a science, and was quickly hacked through to the pad's internal memory core.

Which contained a great deal of data about Cyantis, and the Founders of Cyberspace.

Hacker skimmed through it quickly, before he finally found what he wanted. Data on the effects to cyborgs due to exposure to the Real World. As his prisoner had indicated, what he knew about it was only theoretical, and as such there was only so much Hacker could use. In fact, some of it was actually _in_accurate, and therefore of no use. But it did give a name for this odd effect, a long and complicated one. But for Hacker, it was just what he wanted.

Copying this name, he entered it into the Wreaker's search and find program, and told it to begin. It did, searching through the massive archives of information Hacker had downloaded from the hidden Cyantian data core he had found sometime back on Cyantis. A long moment passed. Then, the results came up.

The program had brought Hacker exactly where he wanted to end up. As it turned out, the Founders of Cyberspace knew of the Real World, how to get there, and it's affects on cyborgs. And they recorded all this information right down to the last detail. Hacker read through it, very interested.

Most of it was repeats of what he already knew, but the Founders of Cyberspace had learned more about these aftereffects of exposure to the Real World. And they had even devised a kind of protection from it. For within these databanks was the designs for a kind of device that could be worn like a clip-on medal, and shielded a cyborg from the ill effects of the Real World.

The only problem was that it would take a great deal of time to build this device, time Hacker didn't have, being as exposed to the Real World as he was. Nor did he had the materials on hand that he needed.

His prisoner had been right. No matter what, he was going to have to go back to Cyberspace.

Hacker sighed, not liking the idea, but now saw he had no choice. He activated the intercom. "Buzz!" he said. "Charge up the portal generator! We're going back to Cyberspace."

* * *

A quick trip back through a portal led Hardson and the Cybersquad back to the secret military base, up on the surface. Once there, Hardson got right down to business, making several quick explanations to co-workers and her superiors. Once the situation was revealed (with the help of the kids) in brief, and the promise of a more detailed story to be given later, Hardson was given the go ahead with her plans.

Grinning victoriously, Hardson led them to hanger bay nearby.

"You'll like this." she promised, and opened the hanger doors.

Within where several fighter jets, a kind of which none of them had seen before. Large and black in color, they were well-armed, and had some kind of armor that was unlike the usual armor for a fighter jet. With upswept wings and short, stubby, tail fins, they looked to be impressive crafts.

"Whoa." Matt said. "If I knew how to fly..."

"Presenting the J-21 fighter jet." Hardson explained. "Top secret, and brand new. No jet can maneuver like these, and have a brand new kind of armor that should withstand well against Cyberspace weaponry. It also contains state-of-the-art weaponry, and can fly in the air, _and _space."

"Awesome." Peter remarked, rubbing his hands along the tip of one wing.

"We have the pilots to fly them, and permission to use them." Hardson said.

"So we want to use these against Hacker?" Inez asked, turning to look at the major.

"Better." Hardson. "We're taking them to Cyberspace."


	13. Fighting Chaos

It's the moment you've all been waiting for... ;)

13.

Fighting Chaos

"You ready yet, you tin-plated duncebucket?" Hacker exclaimed as he stormed onto the bridge of the Wreaker.

Buzz quickly vacated the command chair, leaving it open for Hacker to sit in. "Yes, boss, I've got the coordinates laid in, and everything."

"Fine, now move." Hacker said, sitting in his seat, and gripping the controls for the Wreaker.

Buzz rushed over to another control panel, sitting down at it. "The generator says it's at normal, Boss." he said.

"I know that, you twit." Hacker said, who had know that status hadn't changed once since they had arrived in the Real World. He double checked the coordinates. "Good, you set the portal to exit in the middle of Cyberspace. Just as I wanted."

"Yes, boss." Buzz said, watching Hacker work at the controls for a moment.

Taking the Wreaker out of autopilot, Hacker brought his ship to fly upward, heading out into space, high above Earth. Seeing he and his ship were now well out of range of prying eyes, he flipped a switch on his control panel. Deep down in the depths of the Wreaker, in it's engine room, a large generator attached to the ship's power supply started to hum. It was clearly of Cyantian design.

The hum then pulsed, and outside the ship, a pink portal opened, big enough for the Wreaker to enter. Hacker promptly flew the Wreaker into the portal, and the ship surged forward, cruising through the energy tunnel of the portal that would lead into Cyberspace. The ship rattled and shook from the strain, but otherwise did nothing.

Then, the Wreaker was spat out into an empty portion of Cyberspace, with no cybersites or anything around for a whole cybermile.

Or so Hacker had thought.

Staring at the viewscreen in front of him, Hacker rose to his feet, surprised. Buzz joined him.

"What the..." the robot murmured.

Just outside the Grim Wreaker was a whole fleet of J-21 fighter jets and the four-seater Cybercoop...

* * *

"There it is!" the radio on the cybercoop crackled. "Repeat, target has arrived!"

"Open fire, repeat, open fire!" Major Hardson ordered back into radio. "Keep that ship preoccupied while we carry out our mission!"

"Yes ma'am!" came the reply, and the escort of J-21 fighter jets the cybercoop had surged forward and started attacking the Grim Wreaker.

Their shots only dealt minor damage to the Wreaker, but the much bulkier ship was at a great disadvantage to the J-21s, as it could not move and dodge like the fighter jets could. Not to mention, it took a few seconds for the Wreaker to respond to the attack by lowering it's laser cannon and opening fire. It missed it's intended target; the J-21s were proving to be too quick to be hit.

Hardson watched this for a long moment, before turning to Digit, who was piloting. "Take us in, Didge." she ordered.

"Okey-doke." Digit replied, looking to be a bit unsure about the major still, but obeyed anyway, bringing the cybercoop to rush towards the Wreaker.

Hardson then turned around to face her team of two commandos she had put together for this mission. "Ready?" she asked.

The two hefted their weapons to indicate they were, albeit with hesitation.

"Still can't get over it ma'am." one of them said. "We're in Cyberspace."

"Save your awe for later, Davidson, we've got a mission to do." Hardson said, picking up her own weapons. "You've both got those laser pistols you were issued, correct?"

"You mean these toy guns?" the other commando asked, holding up his Cyberspace laser pistol.

"Don't judge a laser pistol by it's casing, guys." Matt said, approaching, being followed by the rest of the Cybersquad, both main and backup. "Those little buggers have got a lot of fire power in them, more than those machines guns you're carrying."

"I just wish you'd give us some." Peter said, voicing his opinion.

"You're going to leave the fighting to us." Hardson said, loading her machine gun before standing. "Those are my orders, and I can't override them. We're going to escort you lot to the needed locations you need to go once we board the Grim Wreaker."

"You know, we probably could've handled this part ourselves." Jackie said. "We always have in the past."

"Maybe so, but it was agreed to play it safe." Hardson said. "The army has a great deal of plans they want to do now that they know about Cyberspace, and you guys are the only ones from the Real World who know enough about the place in order to make it a reality."

"Just remember that we have to limit what the Army can do here." Inez reminded the major. "If we didn't..."

"Don't worry, we are all aware of the story about you're little adventure in that parallel universe, and we know the risks." Hardson assured her. "We'll be playing it safe, trust me. But let's worry about that later. You know the mission?"

"Sure, it's simple enough." Alex said with a shrug. "We go in, destroy Hacker's means of going from Cyberspace to the Real World, prevent him from doing it again, and get out."

"Also see if we have any chance of catching Hacker and putting an end to his reign of chaos." Lara added. "But if not, then don't worry about it."

"Good." Hardson said, then turned to face Digit. "How long until we're ready to board?"

"ETA another five minutes, major." Digit replied from the pilot's seat. "All this fighting is slowly us down."

"Don't worry about it, take the time you need." Hardson said.

Matt was watching the attack proceed, the J-21s starting to deal the Wreaker some damage to be concerned about, while the Wreaker tried hard to deal the same amounts of damage back, and failing. One of it's shots from the laser cannon finally found it's target, and struck one of the wings of the J-21's.

It got pretty scorched, wielding the jet's fins stiff, but otherwise remained intact. It's superior armor had withstood the attack well. Regardless, the pilot of the damaged J-21 decided he had received too much damage, and must have activated a distress beacon, for Motherboard, who was monitoring the battle from back at Control Central, opened a portal for the jet to escape in.

Matt shook his head in awe at the attacking fighter jets. "Dang, I wish I could fly one of those things." he muttered hopefully.

"Maybe when you're older." Hardson said, pulling him back to rejoin the rest of the group. "Digit, the Wreaker's getting pretty close. We there yet?"

"Almost, just one more minute." Digit said. "Get ready."

Exactly a minute later, there was a gentle thump as the cybercoop landed on top of the Wreaker.

"All right, let's go." Hardson said, holding her weapon aloft.

* * *

A loud buzzing noise rang out as an alarm flashed on Hacker's control panel.

"Someone's boarded the ship!" he exclaimed, as the ship jolted from a missile impact. "Buzz, take Delete and take care of the situation!"

Buzz hopped up immediately to obey the order. "But boss!" he objected. "Deedee's still in the medical bay!"

"Then get him out of there, and obey my order!" Hacker yelled, aiming the laser cannon once more for another shot. "I will not allow intruders to board _my _ship and get away with it!"

* * *

Moving quickly, Hardson and her two colleagues jogged along, escorting the Cybersquad as they went. They rounded the corner of the hallway just as Buzz and Delete rounded around the other corner, further down the hall.

"Get back!" Hardson ordered, pushing the group back as she and her cohorts opened fire.

Buzz and Delete returned fire with their laser pistols, and the fire fight continued on for a moment, while the Cybersquad was forced to sit and watch, out of the line of fire. The Wreaker jolted from a weapons impact on the outside, alerting them to the fact that time was short.

"We don't have time for this." Hardson muttered, pulling out a hand grenade from her vest pocket, pulling the pin and hurling it down the hallway.

Buzz and Delete saw the object whizz by them unsure what it was, until it hit the opposite wall and exploded, knocking them back. Being robots, they were generally unharmed, but they decided that now would probably be a good time to retreat and get better fire power. As they retreated, Hardson and her cohorts followed, firing off popshots, until the robots were out of view.

"Right, moving on." Hardson said, leading the way. "Where to?"

"We need to get to the engine room." Inez replied, checking her SKWAK pad. "That's most likely where Hacker's portal generator will be. So continue on down this corridor, turn right, then..."

"Wait a minute, what does this sign say?" Lara said, suddenly coming to a stop by a door.

"'Prisoner Retention Room?'" Jackie read.

Matt looked the door up and down. "Think Hacker has a prisoner in there?" he asked.

"Probably worth a look." Alex said.

"Agreed." Hardson said, trying the door and finding it was locked.

She pulled out a small amount of plastic explosive, and plastered it around the door handle.

"Sheesh, you guys are just walking arsenals." Peter noted, as they all moved to safety.

A moment later, and Hardson detonated the explosive. A loud bang rang out, but as the smoke cleared, they saw that the explosive had blown through the door's lock. They all grouped around the door again, and, holding her weapon at the ready, Hardson threw the door open so they could look inside.

They all gasped at the sight of the prisoner that greeted them.

"It's about time you guys showed up!" Future Matt exclaimed from within his cage, standing up. "What did you do, stop for ice cream along the way?"


	14. The Time Traveler

How Future Matt ended up in Hacker's hands is explained. I prove just how many other Cyberchase fanfics I've written "Breeched" ties into, and Matt still can't live down the fact that he got turned into a mouse once. :p

14.

The Time Traveler

"Matt!" Inez exclaimed in surprise. "I mean, Future Matt!"

"What the heck are you doing here, man?" Matt asked, stepping towards his double from the future. "I thought you were still at Mount Olympus!"

"That was true until about a month ago, when Hacker captured me." the time traveler said, grabbing hold of the bars of his cage.

"But how?" Jackie asked, stepping up to join Matt. "Last we knew, Hacker had no idea where you went after you helped us get the Encryptor chip!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait!" Peter interrupted suddenly. "_Future _Matt?"

"That could theoretically explain why I'm seeing double at the moment." Alex remarked, stunned by the fact he was seeing Matt standing in two places at once.

"No wait, you guys have mentioned this before." Lara said, stepping forward. "Remember back when Hacker had Pompedoria under siege and me, Peter, and Alex came into Cyberspace for the first time to help you guys? I remember Matt mentioning he met up with his future self once! That, and getting turned into a mouse."

"You got turned into a mouse?" Future Matt asked, stifling a chuckle.

"Why is it everyone remembers the fact that I got turned into a mouse?" Matt asked, annoyed. "I wasn't the only one! Jackie got turned into a rabbit during all of that, remember?"

"Yeah, but only for like five minutes." Jackie pointed out.

"You got turned into a mouse?" Hardson asked, looking like she found this idea hard to believe.

"Look, can we talk about this later?" Inez interrupted. "It's not like we have all the time in the world, here!"

"Nezzie's right, we need to get going." the time traveler said. "Look, I'll explain everything on the way."

"Fair enough." Hardson said, stepping up to the cage and pulling out more plastic explosive. "Stand back."

She plastered the explosive on the cage's lock, and ignited it. The lock snapped instantly, allowing Future Matt to push the cage door open and liberate himself.

He took a moment to savor the freedom, then nodded. "Right, let's go." he said.

They hurried out the door, heading once again for the Wreaker's engine room.

"All right, Future Matt, what's the story?" Jackie asked as they hurried.

"Well, like Matt said, after we were done with the business with the Encryptor chip, Cyantis, and saving the future, I went straight to Mount Olympus to continue on with life." Future Matt explained. "For awhile, everything was going great. Got to see Greek mythology up close, and no one even stopped to think I was from the future. Then one day, just out of the blue, the Grim Wreaker showed up, and Hacker kidnaped me, with the help of Buzz and Delete, of course."

"For a long while I couldn't figure out how Hacker knew where I went either, until he finally explained it to me. Turns out, Inez, that you had recorded the whole adventure with me and the Encryptor chip into your SKWAK pad in a kind of journal, and in it, was the name of the cybersite I went to live life out. Hacker said that he had managed to read it when he captured you and your SKWAK pads for a brief period of time."

"That had to have been when Hacker captured us back during that situation at Pompedoria." Jackie realized.

"I remember this!" Inez exclaimed suddenly. "Hacker said he had learned something from my SKWAK pad and said that it would 'change everything,' but we couldn't figure out what, and _he _certainly wouldn't tell us!"

"Holy cow, you're right!" Matt exclaimed, remembering. "To think, we had the clues for so long, too!"

"So what happened after that?" Alex asked the time traveler.

"Nothing good." Future Matt replied. "Hacker knew that I knew more about Cyantis than anyone else. As his previous plans involving knowledge he had obtained from Cyantis hadn't worked out, he wanted me to tell him all I knew. Naturally, I refused, but that didn't stop him. While alternately bugging me to no end, he was also checking out my own SKWAK pad. Modified as it is, it contains a whole boatload of information regarding Cyantis, which Hacker now had complete access to. It wasn't long before he found what he wanted."

Inez's eyes widened. "The hidden Cyantian data core!" she exclaimed. "That's how Hacker found out about it! He learned it from you!"

"Against my will." the time traveler pressed. "But yes. Once he learned of it's existence, he went straight there. Taking me with him to interrogate for explanations for whatever he found down there, he quickly gained access to the data core and downloaded a copy of nearly all that information into the Grim Wreaker's computer core."

"He took you with?" Matt said, then his own eye's widened. "When we found the data core ourselves, we found Hacker's footprints in addition to another set we couldn't identify. They were yours!"

Future Matt nodded. "I knew Cyberspace was in deep trouble, now but there wasn't anything I could do anymore." he went on. "Hacker had what he wanted, and it wasn't long before he had a new plan, regarding Cyantian power crystals."

"His superweapon capable of turning whole cybersites evil." Inez guessed.

The time traveler nodded. "At least, I _thought _that was the plan, but not so. It turned out that when the whole situation was over that the whole thing was just a _ruse!_"

"A ruse?" Hardson repeated, listening.

Future Matt nodded again. "A fake plan Hacker was using to keep the rest of you busy while he worked on an even _bigger _plan. Assembling a portal generator, using plans he found in the stolen Cyantian database."

"So that's how Hacker got in the Real World." Matt said, then shook his head. "We gotta destroy those records!"

"My SKWAK pad as well." Future Matt added. "As it's from the future, it merely existing in this time risks further affecting time." he paused, and shook his own head. "Guys, I'm sorry. This is all my fault. If I hadn't traveled through time, Hacker never would've caused all of this trouble, and..."

"If you hadn't traveled through time and altered history, we all would've been in worse trouble anyway." Jackie assured Future Matt. "Don't go blaming yourself for something you couldn't control."

"But Hacker's not after information about Cyantis or his next evil plan anymore!" Future Matt objected now. "For sometime now, he's been trying to get information from me that would give him the ultimate advantage; something that he could only get from me!"

There was a long moment of silence as everyone brooded on that for a moment. Then Alex had the answer.

"Hacker wants to time travel." he deduced.

The time traveler nodded. "He wants to go to the past and alter the future, just like I did." he said. "He can save himself a whole lot of trouble that way, and not have to worry about constantly coming up with a new evil plan."

"I see what you mean." Lara said. "If he went back in time to just before you arrived, Matt from the Future, he can stop you from interfering and allowing history to continue on as before."

"Or better yet, he could go all the way back to the beginning and stop all of us from the Real World from ever entering the picture." Inez said. "_Then _where would Cyberspace be at?"

"You see why I feel so guilty?" Future Matt said. "I may have saved the day in the short term, but in the long term, I may have just been prolonging the inevitable! I mean, look! You've already got the US Army involved in Cyberspace affairs!" he gestured to Hardson and her two companions. "Who's next, the navy?"

"Then help us work this out!" Matt said, facing his double. "You know Hacker's plans better than anyone else here! Tell us what we need to do!"

"_You _guys need to head to Hacker's lab and destroy my SKWAK pad and scramble the Wreaker's computer core!" the time traveler said. "That'll put Hacker out of commission for sure!"

"What about you?" Inez asked.

"I'll handle the portal generator." Future Matt said.

"Why you?" Peter asked.

"I feel obligated." Future Matt replied with a shrug. "Besides, if we split up, the faster and more likely we can pull this off."

"Then why don't we send someone with you?" Alex asked.

"This could be dangerous." Future Matt said. "It's best if it's just left up to me. Besides, it's just like the other me said. I know better than anyone what Hacker's plans are, and that includes the portal generator. If anyone can disable it, it'll be me."

"Then we spilt up here." Jackie said, bringing the group to a sudden halt at an intersection in the hallway. "That way leads to the Wreaker's engine room."

"Wish me luck then." Future Matt said, jogging on down the hallway. But he suddenly stopped and turned back. "Inez!" he called. "What's the name of that chemical that we said could theoretically allow for time travel into the future?"

"Lynitrogen." Inez replied automatically. "The Wreaker uses it as a kind of fuel. Why? You aren't considering to try and head back to the future, are you?"

"Just keeping my options open, is all!" Future Matt replied, then turned around and vanished down the hallway.

* * *

Buzz and Delete burst onto the bridge in a panic.

"Boss, boss, the kids are onboard, and they're with some adult guys that have got _BOMBS!_" Buzz exclaimed, running in circles around Hacker's recharger chair.

"Yeah, and they've got other weapons, too!" Delete said. "We came to get more fire power, so we can stop them from stopping us!"

"I know." Hacker said, staring at a screen on his control panel. It was a security camera view, and it saw the Cybersquad and their military escort rushing by. "That's not all they've done."

"What should we do, boss?" Buzz asked.

"You are going to stay here and deal with those fighters." Hacker said, getting out his chair and gesturing out a window at the J-21s still attacking the ship. "I'm going to take matters into my own hands..."


	15. Fire With Fire

Very dramatic chpt. IMO. Future Matt leaves the picture once again.

15.

Fire With Fire

Future Matt hurried down the hallway, heading in the direction of the engine room he knew lay at the end of this corridor. Finally, he arrived at a set of double doors, with the words 'engine room' marked upon it. He paused for a moment, taking a deep breath, then pressed the control that would open the door.

It slid open, and a whole orchestra of percussive noise assailed the time traveler's ears. Stepping through the door and onto the catwalk beyond, Future Matt looked around at the exposed pipes, wires, and other mechanisms that filled the room, looking for the portal generator. He traveled fairly far into the room before he finally found the rectangular-shaped device, sitting some feet away from the catwalk.

Climbing over the railing and onto the pipes and other device that separated him from the generator. Clambering over all of this, Future Matt had little trouble to reach the generator. Once there, he knelt down and started tapping at the controls to the generator. He had complete access to all of it's operations. He could even create a portal if he wanted to.

"This'll be a cinch." he remarked to himself, starting to type in commands into the generator that would hopefully render it useless.

But he froze when he suddenly felt the barrel of a laser pistol press against the back of his head.

"Don't move." Hacker ordered.

* * *

Finding Hacker's lab was easy.

"The picture of Buzz and Delete with a cross over it made it pretty clear." Inez remarked as they entered.

The room was fairly empty, but was littered with evidence of the evil plans and other projects Hacker had conducted in this room. The group ignored most of it, however, and stepped over to the computer console, online and active, displaying the search program for the Wreaker's computer core. Future Matt's SKWAK pad sat on the console.

Matt picked it up. "Well, getting rid of this will be easy." he remarked.

"But what about scrambling the computer core?" Jackie asked, sitting down at the console and experimenting with it's controls. "There doesn't seem to be a button labeled 'scramble'."

"Clearly, Future Matt thought we could do it." Inez remarked, sitting down at the console as well.

"But he's from the future." Peter remarked.

"So?" Inez asked.

Peter just looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to make the connection.

Alex decided not to wait. "Peter's saying that because he's from the future, the time traveler would know more than the rest of us do."

"It can't be that hard, though, otherwise _he _would've said he'd do it." Jackie said, scrolling through the data. "Give us enough time, and we could probably figure it out."

Lara grabbed the edge of Jackie's chair as the Wreaker rocked briefly from the attack still occurring outside. "I don't think we have that kind of time, Jax." she remarked.

"Where is this computer core, anyway?" Hardson asked suddenly, looking thoughtful.

Jackie worked with the controls for a moment, bring up a 3D map of the Wreaker on the screen. "Across the hall and down a deck from here." Jackie said.

"I suppose one could manually scramble the computer core from there." Inez remarked.

"I've got a better idea." Hardson said, and handed Matt the three laser pistols she and her military cohorts carried before leaving and motioning to her cohorts to followed, leaving the kids in Hacker's lab.

* * *

Moving slowly, Future Matt stood up and raised his hands into the air, Hacker keeping the laser pistol pointing at the time traveler's head.

"Found out I escaped, huh?" Future Matt asked.

"You were freed." Hacker corrected. "Did you really think I wouldn't be monitoring the prison?"

"One can hope." Future Matt admitted.

"Well, hope no more." Hacker said. "Now, either tell me what I want to know, or die."

"Tempting offer, Hacker." the time traveler said. "But I think I'm still going to say...forget it."

"Then you're digging your own grave, kiddie." Hacker said, tightening his grip on the trigger...

* * *

Outside, the Grim Wreaker turned it's laser cannon to shoot at an attacking J-21. As it fired, it's shot skimmed the tip of the fighter's wing, but otherwise missed and did not seriously harm the craft. As the laser cannon turned to pick out a new target, a swarm of J-21s fired at one of the cannon's blind spots.

Their shots hit on, and with a few sparks, the cannon was disabled.

* * *

The engine room suddenly rocked, making both Hacker and Future Matt wobble on their feet. Something in the room sparked, and Hacker absentmindedly started to turn to see what it was. The moment Future Matt felt the laser pistol point away from his head, he spun around and grabbed at the weapon. It fired, but missed, and hit the equipment lining the room.

Hacker resisted as Future Matt tried to tear the weapon from his hand. "Let go of that!" he exclaimed, throwing Future Matt to one side.

This motion gave Future Matt the leverage he needed to pry the pistol from Hacker, but as he was thrown aside, he lost his grip on it, and it clattered away as he hit the ground. Hacker lunged for it, but the time traveler quickly rolled over, and punched Hacker in the chin. Groaning, Hacker backed off, allowing Future Matt to pick himself up and land a kick to Hacker's chest.

Hacker doubled over, then head butted the time traveler, knocking him into a row of pipes. Future Matt's foot kicked at the fallen laser pistol, and it clattered away, bouncing off pipes before it vanished from sight, lost in the tangle of equipment in the room. Both Hacker and Future Matt watched the weapon spin away, then realized there was only one way to continue the fight.

Pushing each other away, they prepared themselves for a fistfight, and it wasn't long before blows were started to be dealt.

* * *

"Almost there." Hardson reported into her radio as she and her fellow officers reached the doorway leading into the computer core.

"Gotcha." Jackie's voice replied through the radio. "Remember, whatever you're going to do, wait until we're sure Future Matt has done his bit. We have to time this so both parts happen near the same time. If we don't, we'll put Hacker, Buzz, and Delete on alert too soon, and make it harder to complete this mission."

"Right." Hardson said into the radio as they reached the door. "Hardson out."

Swinging it open, Hardson viewed the high-tech core.

"How do you plan to disable it, major?" one of the officers asked.

"Well, when all else fails, blow it up." Hardson replied with a shrug, pulling out a hefty amount of plastic explosive.

Stepping up to the core, she plastered it onto the surface of the core, added a detonator, hen motioned for the officers to leave. As they did, she looked over her work one more time, then followed.

* * *

In the engine room, Future Matt and Hacker were decking it out, but as Hacker was a cyborg, the hits the time traveler was dealing him was doing little harm. And for Hacker, Future Matt was too little and too fast to get many hits in at. Finally, getting fed up with this and longing for a new weapon, Hacker broke off the attack and moved across the room.

Hanging in a glass case was an axe. Breaking the glass with ease, Hacker pulled the blade within out and swung it at his opponent. Future Matt quickly ducked the sharp blade. It struck a pipe instead, cracking it. Undeterred, Hacker continued his attack, damaging the engine room further as he tried to hit Future Matt. The time traveler was able to dodged the hits, but didn't know for how much longer he could.

He then backed up into a very large pipe, and suddenly had nowhere to go. Thinking that victory was at hand, Hacker swung the axe. Future Matt quickly leapt to one side, and the axe hit the pipe, bursting it and releasing a cloud of pressurized kryoxide into Hacker's face. Caught off guard, Hacker stumbled backwards blindly.

Future Matt attacked him suddenly, and wrenched the axe away from him. Seeing he had lost his advantage, Hacker started to turn and flee, but Future Matt quickly stomped a foot down on Hacker's cape. It ripped under the strain, and Hacker fell over.

"No capes!" Future Mat exclaimed suddenly.

Hacker rolled over to look at him. "Huh?"

"I guess you'd have to be from the Real World in order to understand that joke." Future Matt admitted.

"Oh." Hacker said, then suddenly lashed out and grabbed the time traveler around the neck. "I guess you'd have to be from Cyberspace in order to get _this _one, then."

Future Matt gagged for a moment, then kicked Hacker in the crouch and swung the axe at Hacker's arm. It dented it, and Hacker winced in pain, releasing Future Matt, who stood near the portal generator.

Hacker watched him for a moment, then grinned. "You aren't going to kill me." he said confidently. "You don't have the heart."

Future Matt paused, knowing Hacker was right. He looked for other options, then spied a nearby pipe labeled "Lynitrogen."

"Ah, heck with this." the time traveler said, and swung the axe at the pipe, knocking off it's end cap.

Fiery hot, red, gas explosively streamed out of the pipe, knocking the time traveler aside, and forcing Hacker to look away. Finding that he was near the portal generator, Future Matt got an idea, and quickly began to type commands into the generator's controls. A moment later, a portal opened up in the engine room, right in the path of the stream of lynitrogen.

Spewing straight into the portal, the portal flared, and started to turn red. Arches of lighting sparked out from the portal and striking at random objects throughout the room. Future Matt let this go on for a moment, then dove into the unstable portal and vanished from sight. The portal wavered for a moment, becoming increasingly unstable, then suddenly exploded, igniting the lynitrogen and caused a chain reaction as the Wreaker's fuel line suddenly went up in flames.

Once the flames had gone out on their own, Hacker picked himself up and surveyed the damage. It was bad. Not only was the fuel line completely destroyed, but the portal generator was damaged as well, and probably would never operate again. Glaring angrily, Hacker picked himself up, and heard the intercom beep.

"Boss, boss!" the voice of Buzz exclaimed. "Fuel levels just dropped, and the portal generator's gone dead! We're dead in the water!"

Hacker went over to a comlink to reply, but before he could, chaos struck the Wreaker...

* * *

The exploding lynitrogen had sent a shockwave throughout the ship. The kids quickly hung on as Hacker's lab shook from it.

"That's it!" Jackie said, reading the readouts on the screen before and leaping out of her chair. "Future Matt's done it! The generator's down!"

"Now, major!" Inez shouted into her SKWAK pad as they all sought cover.

* * *

"Fire in the hole!" Hardson exclaimed, and flipped the trigger to the plastic explosive.

Further down the hall, and column of fire burst out of the computer core room...

* * *

In Hacker's lab, the computer console suddenly exploded as a chain reaction shot through the Wreaker's computer systems, making the Cybersquad still in the room duck down behind a table.

* * *

Up in the command deck, Delete was knocked back from the piloting controls as the console suddenly erupted into a fury of sparks. Several more consoles exploded, nearly crippling the Wreaker.

"What in the world...?" Buzz exclaimed, as he intercom he was using shorted out. looking around, he grabbed a laser pistol, and handed one to Delete. "C'mon Dee-Dee, I think the Boss is going to want us elsewhere in a moment."

* * *

Hacker was knocked back from the comlink as it shorted out, and several small explosions rippled through the engine room. Once the turmoil was over, the villain pulled himself up and headed for the door. His plans were starting to crumble all around him, but he wasn't going to let that happen without a fight...

* * *

When the worse of chain reaction was over, Matt got up, pulled out Future Matt's SKWAK pad, and threw it to the floor with enough force that it's screen shattered. He didn't stop there. Pulling out his laser pistol, he started shooting at it. Inez and Jackie, also having laser pistols, followed his example. Pretty soon, all that remained of the SKWAK pad was a small crater in the floor.

"There." Matt said, lowering his pistol. "Our job here is done."

"Then let's get out of here!" Peter exclaimed, heading for the door. "Something tells me that escaping isn't going to be easy."


	16. Evasive

Starting to wrap things up, maybe only one or two more chpt to go.

16.

Evasion

Exiting Hacker's lab, the Cybersquad raced down the hallway.

"This way back to the ship!" Inez exclaimed, studying her SKWAK pad.

They turned around a corner and continued onward. As they ran, Hardson and her two cohorts stumbled up a staircase.

"About time you joined us!" Matt quipped.

"Oh hush!" Hardson said.

They rushed on.

"How much further?" Peter asked. "I feel like every minute we spend getting out of here, the more we push our luck."

"It can't be too far." Alex reasoned. "This hallway seems familiar."

"They all do, Alex!" Lara said.

"That's beside the point." Alex remarked.

"Don't worry, we're nearly there." Inez assured them all.

At the end of the hallway, however, Buzz and Delete suddenly rounded the corner.

"Hey, there they are!" Buzz exclaimed, and opened fire, Delete naturally following his lead.

Hardson and her party took over, providing cover fire while the Cybersquad quickly sought temporary shelter in a nearby alcove.

"We're cut off, aren't we?" Jackie asked Inez.

"Not quite, we can go back down this hallway and hang a right." Inez said, working with her SKWAK. "It'll take longer, but we can get back to Digit and the cybercoop that way."

"Fall back!" Hardson ordered.

They started back down the hallway, but as they reached the end, a very enraged Hacker appeared, bearing not one, but two laser pistols. He did not hesitate to fire either, nearly hitting several of his targets. Hardson quickly changed her aim of her fire to take Hacker into account as they all backtracked to the alcove.

"Okay, _now _we're cut off." Inez remarked.

"And bottled in by both sides with laser fire." Hardson added, ducking as one of Delete's shots hit the wall near her head.

"So now what?" Peter asked. "We don't have anywhere else to go!"

"I suppose surrendering is out of the question." Alex remarked, eyeing Hacker's mad look and fired at their position with a vengeance.

"You kidding me?" Matt asked as he fired off his laser pistol at Delete. "Hacker will kill us all if given the chance!"

"Well, right now, I'm not seeing any other options!" Jackie pointed out.

"I do." Lara said, pulling out her SKWAK pad.

"Fire in the hole!" Hardson exclaimed, and she threw a grenade down the hall towards Buzz and Delete, then another towards Hacker. They both exploded, and for a moment, the firing stopped. After a pause, it slowly picked up again.

"Got any more of those?" Matt asked.

"Sorry, those were my last two." Hardson replied, firing her P90 at Buzz and Delete for a moment.

"Lara to Digit, come in please!" Lara said into her SKWAK pad.

"Digit here." came back the cybird's voice. "What happened? The Wreaker's all but a sitting duck now, and I've been getting some funny readings down in there.and what _is _all that noise I'm hearing?"

"We did it, destroyed Hacker's means of going from Cyberspace to the Real World." Lara explained quickly.

"So you're on your way out of there?" Digit asked.

"Um, no, we're cut off from two ends here." Lara said. "No way to get back to the coop. But I think I know of another way to get out of here. In the meantime, don't wait up for us, get out of here."

"And order the J-21s to fall back!" Hardson added, shouting to be heard. "They've done their part!"

"Got it!" Digit replied without hesitation. "Good luck!"

Lara then ended the transmission, and began a new one.

"Motherboard, come in Motherboard!" Lara said. "This is Lara!"

"I am here." came Motherboard's calm reply.

"We're a little trapped here, we need a portal to get out of here!" Lara said.

"Stat!" Hardson added.

"One moment, I must pinpoint your position." Motherboard replied.

Matt and Inez, who were armed with laser pistols and were firing at Hacker, were suddenly forced to fall back when Hacker unleashed a literal blizzard of laser fire at them, creating sparks as each shot hit the wall. The noisy bangs of Hardson and her cohorts's gunfire rang out in the hallway loudly, the 'twang' of bullets missing their targets ringing out just as loud.

"Where's that portal?" Hardson exclaimed.

"I have your position, creating portal now." Motherboard replied.

One of Hardson's cohorts managed to hit Delete in the shoulder with his P90,seemingly damaging the robotic cohort, but Delete was still able to return fire, and thus their situation wasn't helped any.

Finally the familiar pink swirl of a portal opening appeared beside the alcove.

"Finally!" Hardson exclaimed, and dove into it.

The others quickly followed, dodging weapons fire as Hacker, Buzz, and Delete redoubled their attack, knowing that they were about to escape. Finally, they were gone, and silence fell in the hallway.

But only for a moment.

Hacker let out an angry yell. "NO!" he exclaimed angrily.

"Sorry boss." Delete said apologetically.

"We tried our best." Buzz added hopefully.

Hacker simply shoved them aside as he walked past. "Get out of my sight, you...you...just go away!" and with that, he walked off.

Buzz and Delete were left alone in the battleworn hallway.

"Now what do we do?" Delete asked.

"Start making repairs, I guess." Buzz replied, feeling lost, as Hacker had given them no real orders.

Slowly, they walked back down the hallway, and went to start repairs. Hacker continued on until he arrived in his lab, sitting down in the nearest chair and sulking.

His plans had failed.

And for once, he didn't know what to do now.

* * *

Back at Control Central, everyone had returned safely without event.

"Well, so much for the hard part." Inez remarked, dusting herself off.

"Now we just got to make sure the Real World can continue life like before, and this untimely intervention from Cyberspace won't throw a wrench into the gears." Matt added, doing likewise.

"Don't worry, my department can make sure of that." Hardson assured them, switching the safety on her weapon, and setting it aside with a sigh. "However, now that _we're _aware of Cyberspace, we don't expect to be kept out of the loop." she pointed at the kids. "We're in this just as much as you, now."

"And you are correct, major." Motherboard said from her screen. "We owe you a great deal now. The least we can do to repay you is to keep you in the loop."

"Within reason!" Matt added quickly. "There are some things you must stay away from, for the safety of both our worlds."

"Understood." Hardson said with a nod.

"But for now, let's just relax, and savor the victory." Jackie said, collapsing into a chair with a sigh. "We've certainly earned it."

"Yeah, that was a close one." Lara agreed joining Jackie in another chair. "In fact, if it wasn't for Future Matt, we probably wouldn't even...Future Matt!" she gasped. "We left Future Matt behind! We're so busy escaping, I had nearly forgotten!"

"Future Matt's resourceful." Matt assured her. "I think he can handle himself. Besides, something tells me that if he didn't ever catch up with us on his own..." he trailed off for a moment. "...there was no need to wait up for him."

"You are correct Matt." Motherboard said. "I have been in contact with Digit. He and the J-21s are on their way here. But while I was in contact with him, Digit relayed some of his sensor scans he took of the Grim Wreaker. I have been analyzing them. Shortly before the portal generator was taken offline, the Wreaker's lynitrogen fule supply dropped significantly, coupled with an energy signature the likes of which I have never seen before."

Inez caught on quick. "You think Future Matt tried to travel back to the future?" she asked.

"I believe so, Inez." Motherboard replied.

"But I thought we agreed that was way too dangerous, that there was too much potential for both the portal and the lynitrogen required to make the _theoretical _jump into the future from exploding?" Jackie asked.

"We did." Inez agreed.

"He may not have had a choice, Jax." Matt said. "Besides, I trust him. He knew what he was doing."

A moment of silence fell.

"I wonder if he made it." Lara voiced aloud.

"I wonder when he actually ended up." Alex said.

"I dunno." Matt admitted. "But I think someday we're going to find out."


	17. Little Wonders

Last chapter, just wraps up a few loose ends. Little Matt/Inez moment at the end.

17.

Little Wonders

The reunion with parents and child was a happy one. Inez's parents were relieved to see their daughter return to them unscathed, and wouldn't stop hugging her. While Inez appreciated the love and concern, she started to grow weary of the hugs and forced herself away. She didn't find it such a big deal, as she and the rest of the Cybersquad did this kind of thing on a regular basis, but then admitted that her parents were still "new" to the idea.

Jackie's parents reacted similarly, not caring what the story of the adventure was and all the details. They were merely satisfied with the fact that she came back safe. They did not hug and love Jackie quite as much as Inez's parents had, but they still glorified in the fact that their daughter had returned safely.

Peter's parents were clearly glad that Peter had come back safely, but after a few moments of shared relief all around, that was the end of it. They didn't seem to be too interested in the details, but Peter didn't look to willing to relate the tale, anyway. After a few moments, all three of the family were sitting around watching and waiting for the others to finish.

Alex's parents reacted similarly to all of the parents. Glad to have their son back safe, and rejoiced on this fact. But unlike the rest of the parents, Alex's parents soon had Alex launching into the tale of the whole battle on and off the Grim Wreaker, Alex going into the nitty-gritty details on his own, but would occasionally would delve even deeper upon the request of his father, who found it all fascinating, and sucked it up like a sponge.

This only left Matt and Lara out of the loop of all of this. Matt, because his parents had never been brought in Cyberspace, and were probably still blissfully unaware of most of what had happened. Matt was completely ready to leave it at that, but Dr. Marbles was giving him a very lengthy lecture about how it would probably wouldn't be a good idea to exclude Matt's parents from the knowledge of Cyberspace's existence, now that everyone else's parents knew about it, and was encouraging him to tell them.

Lara, on the other hand, stayed away from it all, watching all of this happening in the greenhouse from afar, standing next to Motherboard's control panel in the control room. Her expression was mixed with excitement, pride, happiness, but some sadness.

"You are envious, are you not, Lara?"

Lara glanced up at Motherboard's screen. "Yeah, Mother B." she admitted. "I guess I am. They all have a family to return to, while I don't. I don't even have foster parents anymore." she bowed her head for a moment. "I don't really have much of anything anymore."

"You feel you must start your life over again." Motherboard deduced.

"Yeah." Lara admitted. "I mean, what other choice do I have?"

"Very little." Motherboard admitted. "I am curious, however, to know what you plan to do from here."

"To be honest, I don't really know." Lara said with a shrug. "I didn't really have much of a life in the Real World, anyway. I just went to school, talked with friends, learned lessons, did my homework, got a new set of foster parents every few months, moved around a lot, and didn't have many belongings." she paused, then gave a curt and hollow laugh. "I don't even have belongings anymore. Hacker's attack destroyed all of it." she grinned. "You know, Mother B, in many ways, me becoming a part of the gang here in Cyberspace was actually a good thing for me. Before, I felt like...like...I had no real purpose in life. Like I was merely a robot, doing what I was told, going where I was led, and nothing more. But here, here I've helped make a difference. Here, I'm actually _somebody_. Heck, I have more of a life here than I did in the Real World."

She paused, thinking about something, looking like she was wondering if she dared mention it. Motherboard wisely choose to remain silent, and listened.

"Mother B." Lara said, beginning again. "Question to ask you."

"Yes?"

"Mind if I stay here, in Cyberspace?"

Motherboard seemed taken aback by this sudden proposal. "Lara...I do not know if that is wise..."

"Oh c'mon, I've got nothing left in the Real World!"

"What about friends?"

"All of my friends are right there, in that greenhouse! Matt, Jackie, Inez, and all the rest!"

"What about family?"

"I have none, remember?"

"What about your education?"

"I could learn _twice _that much here in Cyberspace, Mother B."

Motherboard hesitated for a moment, debating. "Are you sure you wish to do this?" she asked.

"Very much so." Lara said. "There's no reason why I can't, is there? Besides, if I ever change my mind, it's not like I can't go back."

Motherboard was silent for a moment. "People in the Real World will notice your absence." she said.

"Major Hardson can have some cover story whipped up to lead people off the trail." Lara said. "They're already working on a cover story to explain Hacker's presence in the Real World, it should be easy to whip up another for me."

Motherboard grinned. "Then welcome to Cyberspace, Lara."

* * *

"Okay, we want full rights to coming and going from Cyberspace."

"Understood, but there will be restrictions, and you will not be allowed to venture into certain areas without an escort. You will also obey my commands within Cyberspace."

"We want to be able to explore Cyberspace at our own leisure."

"Understood, but the same restrictions apply."

"We also want to refit the J-21s with some laser cannons and Cyberspace-class armor."

"Understandably."

"We also would like a permanent base set up somewhere in Cyberspace to house J-21s, pilots, and to direct missions from."

"I can have such a facility set up here at Control Central."

"We'll also need Cyberspace funding."

"I will pay for all bills."

"Also want Cyberspace to know that we're here."

"Already done. Word of your help with Hacker has traveled fast."

Hardson grinned, and hesitated for a moment, wondering if she dared try her luck. "We'd also...uh...like to be given the equipment to create our own portals, so we can come and go from Cyberspace as we please."

Motherboard frowned. "Do not push it." she said.

It was a couple of days after the successful mission of destroying Hacker's portal generator and defeating him for the day. Repairs for the damage Hacker had dealt to both worlds was well under way, and the Real World in general was none the wiser about what had happened. The military had told the public that the unknown craft was an experimental military craft that had been hijacked by rogue personnel, and was used to try and attack secret and unnamed military personnel, and that the treat has since been neutralized.

According to Hardson, this story was considered the best, as it was the closest to the truth, and didn't support anything that would probably come back to haunt the military later in life. Hardson also said that while there were still many who were questioning what had happened, the common belief was that Earth was really attacked by aliens. No one had come anywhere close to guessing that the attacker was from Cyberspace. The secret of it's existence was still safe from the general public, and Hardson's organization of the army had promised to keep it that way.

Now, Hardson's organization was working on getting their share of the pie and receive some of the benefits Cyberspace presented. They had been using the fact that once they got some of these benefits, the war with Hacker would be shortly over with their help. As such, Motherboard was being very lenient with them, but she had to draw a line somewhere.

And she had just drawn it. Hardson look dejectedly down at the list he held in her hands, and wondered if she could request the rest of the items on it still. As she did this, Inez walked in.

Motherboard, looking relieved for the break, greeted her. "Hello Inez." she said. "I trust everything went well with your parents?"

"Yeah, gave them the complete tour of Cyberspace." Inez said. "They're in one of the guest rooms now, resting." she looked around, clapping her hands together. "Am I the first one done?"

"Yes." Motherboard said. "The others are still showing their parents the world they have been brought to. The reactions, from what I've been told, are mixed, but it is clear they are all warming up to the idea of it all."

Inez grinned, then turned to the major. "Major Hardson, what are you doing here?" she asked politely, trying to make small chat.

"I'm presenting Motherboard with some of our requests, now that the army is involved with Cyberspace affairs." Hardson said.

Motherboard mumbled something to herself, part of which sounded like "demands." Hardson shot her a look.

"How is that all going, anyway?" Inez asked, curious. "I've heard you've been really busy setting up a new organization for handling Cyberspace affairs."

"Yes, and we've made some great progress." Hardson said. "Reformed into a new, secret, fraction of the army that has been dubbed "Cyberspace Exploration and Defense Society," CSEDS, for short."

"CSEDS?" Inez repeated skepically.

"Yes, but it's becoming better known by it's nickname, Cyberspace Command, or, CSC." Hardson said with a grin. "It's going to head everything involving Cyberspace and the army. Including exploration. We're forming little teams that will act kind of like a military version of the Cybersquad." she grinned, then added, "Guess who gets to lead the head team?"

"You?" Inez asked.

Hardson nodded. "Calling it CS-1." she said.

"Who'll be on it?"

"Dunno yet, I'm still looking at potential candidates."

"Ah." Inez said, then looked around for a few moments. "Who else is here, Mother B?"

"If you are looking for someone to visit with, Inez, Lara is in the hanger bay with Dr. Marbles, working on the Cybercoop." Motherboard said.

"Sounds like they're busy, though." Inez noted.

"Perhaps." Motherboard admitted. "However, Matt is also here. He is out on the balcony."

Inez frowned, and looked out the glass dome that made up most of the room and out at the balcony. Sure enough Matt was there, leaning on the railing.

"Why is Matt here?" Inez asked rhetorically.

* * *

Matt watched as his yo-yo fell from his hand, dropping into the emptiness of Cyberspace a few feet, then stopped to hover for a brief second before shooting back up into his hand. Not really concentrating on it, Matt repeated this for a few moments.

"I thought you had gone to tell your parents about Cyberspace, Matt."

Matt turned and saw Inez standing in the doorway behind him.

"Oh, hi Inez." Matt said, he paused, then added, "I already did tell them."

"How did they react?" Inez asked, joining Matt at the railing.

"Okay, I guess." Matt said, watching his yo-yo go up and down. "Just amazed, really. Didn't panic, freak out, or anything. They were just amazed."

"Really?" Inez asked, slightly surprised.

"Yeah, but they do live on a farm." Matt pointed out. "They still think the subway back home is amazing, you know."

Inez laughed, then asked. "So where are they?"

"Getting a tour of Control Central from Digit." Matt replied. "He was probably best for it anyway, seeing he knows the site like the back of his wing. When he's done, I'll take them on a brief tour of a few other cybersites, then call it quits for the day. In the meantime I came out here so I could have some time to think."

Inez was about to ask what about, then realized she didn't have to. "You're thinking about Future Matt, aren't you?" she asked.

Matt nodded. "I guess it's kinda like losing a part of yourself, since he is, in a sense, me." he remarked. "I hope he's all right, wherever he is."

"Matt, you said yourself that he could handle himself." Inez pointed out. "Presuming he made it to the future, of course."

"That's just it, Inez." Matt said. "Did he make it? We have no way of knowing until time reaches the point he exits from, and we don't know when that is, either! It could be thousands of years into the future, for all we know!"

"Presuming he even went into the future." Inez added. "The idea of using lynitrogen with a portal was only a theoretical way to get to the future. It's never been tested until now."

Matt sighed. "You're not helping, Inez."

"Sorry." Inez said. "But really Matt, don't worry about it. Whatever happened to him, I'm sure he can handle himself. And besides, I think you're right. We will meet up with him again someday."

"I just wish I could know that for sure." Matt said.

"You do know Matt." Inez said. "He's you. And who would know him better than himself?"

Matt turned to look at Inez, and grinned. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Inez." he said.

Inez grinned back. "You're welcome, Matt."

* * *

_Wow, this is the first Cyberchase fanfic I've written since Mishap that didn't have some kind of clifhanger ending. But never fear, this is not the end. Be on the lookout for the next Cyberchase adventure, to be entitled, "Neutramatter". But until then, bye! :)_


End file.
